Rap star Emtee has revealed he underwent a Xhosa Initiation in 2009 and credits the painful process as what made him the person he was today.
Detailing the initiation in a new interview, Emtee said “People thought I was weak and that I was soft. I had to show them I wasn’t soft. I had a point to prove. So, I went to my dad, sat him down, and told him that I wanted to go to initiation school. My relatives, grandfathers and great grandfathers had all done it and I wasn’t any different. I knew it was what I needed to do. I needed to be independent. I came out more fierce.”
“It made me who I am today. It is the same as with my music, people think that I am a pushover but I dare anyone to cross me,” he adds.
Emtee also bemoans the rise in fraudulent Xhosa initiation schools. “It is messed up. How do you take people into a forest without permission? No wonder people die. I hear people and they are scared of going (to initiation school) because they think they are going to die and that is not right,”
