Popular South African artiste, Costa Tsobanoglou, professionally known as Costa Titch, has passed on.
The ‘Big Flexa’ rapper reportedly died while thrilling fans at the Ultra Music Festival held in Johannesburg on Saturday.
In videos making rounds on the internet, the singer fell down during the performance, but continued singing after he was picked up by his bodyguard.
He however slumped a second time and had to be carried off stage.
South African media personality, Phil Mphela, confirmed the news via Twitter late night on Saturday.
Mphela wrote in his tweet, “RIP: Costa Titch. Nelspruit-born artist and dancer, real name Costa Tsobanoglou, has passed away. He was 27.”
Titch was popular for his contribution to Amapiano genre with hits such as ‘Big Flexa’, ‘Nkalakatha’ and ‘Activate’.
The rising star most recently signed a deal with Akon’s record label, Konvict Kulture.
Costa’s death is another huge loss for the South African music industry after his colleague, Kiernan Forbes alias AKA, was shot dead in February.
Kemi Filani News had earlier reported that Afrobeats singer, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, had expressed shock over the death of South African Rapper, Kiernan Forbes alias AKA.
Ogulu took to his Instagram stories where he shared an unreleased track in which he sang about the tragic death of the artiste.
According to him, he had advised AKA to purchase a gun after the latter had called him “wild” for owning one.
“WTF is all of that about? I just heard he died, seen that video at that restaurant. Took me out of a positive mood/ Took me back to that day when you saw my gun and you said I was wild/ Then I told you you should have one too,” he sang.
The ‘Last Last’ singer also referenced his beef with the rapper and stated that despite their differences, he never wanted him dead.
“But I didn’t want you dead, it was like that with me and you, have one too/ Cuz it weren’t like niggaz wasn’t dying but I thought you knew/ And I ain’t really f**k with you/
“Wicked! I hope they catch whoever did you wicked/ I hope you rest in peace, even though we ain’t kick it/ At the end of the day we some grown ass ni**az,” he continued.
It would be recalled that at the height of the 2019 xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other Africans in South Africa, Burna Boy condemned the act and threatened not to step foot in the country.
However, the issue escalated into a spat between him and the late South African rapper on Twitter.
In a now-deleted tweet, Burna Boy had threatened AKA and asked the rapper to beef up his security.
“Next time, I see you, you better have a big security bro, on Gambo’s Grave, ur gunna need it(sic),” he wrote.
The South African artiste was shot dead in a drive-by attack at a restaurant in Durban, South Africa. His longtime friend, Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane, was also killed in the shooting
