Dear Nkosinathi “Dj Blackcoffee” Maphumulo
My name is Teboho Thuswa (22), I’m a Motivated Speaker and not a Motivational Speaker because challenges I encountered at an early age motivated me to speak and rebuild people’s lives with the gift that God gave me. I’m the CEO of the Fishmonger Motivations and also an Actor that plays Moshe on the new drama series Ya Lla on Mzansi Magic.
I was really enthused to write this letter to you by simply one beautiful and inspiring line apart your music journey and success that also evoked my success instincts, it literally triggered me to sit down and honour the legend. The line is from the Ballantines’ TV Commercial. “Anyone can do it, but just do it your way! It’s about pushing boundaries and not following trends“. The uniqueness of the TV Commercial which I also found out that it was your idea that orchestrated that beautiful human orchestra provoked the capabilities and capacities I possess to say that I must really find what identifies me from the rest as a speaker; my heart vibrates every time when the advert appears while I’m watching TV. It really stimulates me to stand up immediately and do something, even George Ballantine believed in people who stay true and leave an impression. I have also decided to write you because we usually honour and say beautiful words to people when they are dead and this time I have decided to end the disease because it is very important for one to know when they have touched huge parts of our lives through their work and humble souls. You are so good and brilliant that you cannot be ignored.
Black coffee
Back in my high school days when I grew up as troubled young man, I used to listen to your music, everyone in my age knew that Coffee is the boss of the music scene, if you didn’t know Black coffee then you didn’t seriously know the game of vibe, while I grew up and just dancing to the beautiful music, little did I know that there is a gigantic conqueror that lies behind that beautiful soulistic music that I and many South Africans dance to, an Icon that should be on 21 Icon’s list, a humble soul that never stopped dreaming, a man that has faith and a man whose life many never thought would turn out the way it did today. Most of the time we see the name Blackcoffee all over the news, CD Covers, posters, TV etc. and we don’t know Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo who is behind this huge, inspiring and amazing brand that many event organizers call a crowd puller without being aware that it is actually a connection puller because your music connects and speaks to our souls, it energizes and rejuvenates our spirits in miraculous ways. If you can ask me “Which Dj do you want for your party Teboho?" Then my answer would be: “Just coffee. Black, like my soul.”
My question for a very long time as I grew up has always been but why Dj Blackcoffee plays with one hand and uses one big sided ear phone with his other hand always in the pocket; doesn’t his neck get tired as he is always bending it? I mean I was curious because this Dj is always making waves and producing hits, how does he just mix so beautifully with one hand and still make us dance more than those who play with 2 hands? How does he do it though? Well I thought it was just a trademark because people in the entertainment industry turn to do weird things for the sake of fame and signatures they want to maintain till the day I shared a tear when I found out what really happened to you. A 13 year old ambitious Nathi was celebrating the release of the Father Of The Nation Tata Madiba who spent his life behind bars fighting for Freedom that is being abused today when a Taxi Driver rammed to the crowd and injuring a large group of people whom little Nathi was part of when the incident left him with brachial plexus injury, a condition that resulted in the impairment of his nerve network on his left arm.
On Instagram you once wrote, “I grew up not a very happy child.....quite withdrawn and literally living in my own dream world, psychologically I think this is why music became a big part of my life to escape my own demons but most importantly to heal other people and help them let go”. I can only imagine how you were coping and feeling like at the time of withdrawal as you grew up with other kids calling you with wicked and ruthless names, teasing you and being mean towards you by saying you are disabled and stuff. I mean before the incident while you were still in Umlazi Section E, you witnessed behavioural abuse from your father while he was drunk and now after moving to Mthatha you find yourself losing the nerve network of your arm accidentally. Your Mother, Mam Faith says on the Origins Documentary that she had thought your dreams of being a pianist and Dj have ended when she moved you to Mthatha from Umlazi after the accident but she just never knew at the time that God had for superior plans for her son, I wonder the pain she must have been feeling at the time when she got the call as a parent. As I was rumbling with the question of how you did overcome this rough challenges that you came across, I got my answer when you told the kids of your previous high school that you only had “FAITH”, you just knew what you wanted and kept on pursuing it while relying on God since the path with no obstacles never leads anywhere. A lot of us today lack “FAITH”, we have sort of lost the spiritual connection with ourselves and God, we are thinking things should happen how we want them to happen without realising that we are guided by God and we also seem to think that success is determined by materialistic things forgetting that it is about inner peace while happiness is determined by our thoughts of life. I’ve got to realise from your story that the best things in life aren’t things but Faith, Self-Acceptance and Prayer which are also are very essential towards one’s strength and prosperity.
On one interview when you said: “My life at that time was very removed from the reality of this idea of course, but that was the conversation I used to have privately with myself, and with God” I quickly remembered one bible verse that evidently highlights this powerful phrase, Hebrews 11: 2, it says “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible”. I surely believe that those who mocked you never saw the bigger picture because it was not designed for them but for you only to see. On a book titled Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, God describes Faith in this manner in that uncommon dialogue; he says “if you have the Faith of a mustard seed, you shall move mountains. You come to know it is there because I said it is there; because I said that, even before you ask, I shall have answered; because I said, and have said to you in every conceivable way, through every teacher you can name, that whatsoever you shall choose, choosing it in My Name, so shall it be”. I surely witnessed his wonders through your life with your mother’s name Faith. We have lost it as youth; we are enabling people to dictate our destinies with their opinions and we are stuck with fear because we just don’t know that if our sponsoring thought or thought behind the thought is fear, then the outcome can only be doubt that will never help us to have the stabilized Faith and believe in what we want to accomplish in our lives, Fear also throws many of us in the ignorance world to master the excuses of not succeeding.
Tata Nelson Mandela once said “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.” What I love most about you again Bra Nathi is that you never wanted people to feel sorry or pity for you because of your left hand is not functioning; you have always worked hard and hustled your way to the top as Blackcoffee and nothing else, you didn’t throw the towel at all like many of us do these days, you accepted yourself the way you are and took responsibility about it, your work has always been speaking for you and doing magic in the music scene. I and many South Africans never even knew about your left hand at all. Someone once said to me that Dj Black Coffee is disabled and I asked myself how is he disabled? What is it that he can’t do because even those with 2 working hands don’t seem to reach the level of what he does. I then came to a point where I realised that disability among many people has nothing to do with their inability to function some of their body parts but their mind-set levels instead, a lot of people critically injured in their brains, their minds conceive wrong things and they seem to always want to find faults or negative things on other human beings in order to make themselves feel better since they have no plans to achieve anything with their lives, these are also people who are very quick to become life commentators and unpaid bodyguards with empty success cabinets to their names. I strongly feel that the term “disabled” should only be implied on the mental level instead because people like you Mr Maphumulo clearly demonstrates that any dream is possible as long as you have faith and correct your mind for the rest of your life for things to fall into place. Dj Finzo and Thembinkosi Ntuli are also inspiring ambassadors of greatness like you because they never said they are short and can never have a career or a family while people were busy mocking them as they grew up. People like you and them extremely inspire me to hold fast to my dreams because if they die then my life will be like a broken winged bird that cannot fly at all.
Dalai Lama once said: “Our prime purpose is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” In 2010 you made history when you launched the DJ Black Coffee Foundation which its objectives are to improve the quality of life for orphanages and disabled people, and create meaningful edutainment for the youth of today by also partnering with Bridges For Music to provide music scholarships. My Dj, the flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all, It’s very few people who take their time to give back since life has turned out to be about the Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest in our country, it’s every man for himself now, a dog eat dog world and the sad part is that we turn to forget that God blesses the hand that gives more than the one that receives. Mr Maphumulo the things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy and thumbs up for the Dj Blackcoffee legacy that will remain forever. People have really forgotten where they come from and situations they left back in their hometowns, it’s all about swagging only now while Parents and Kids that we can help are suffering. Your humble personality really reminds us that we must give back for more blessings, Dj Black Coffee you are on Guinness World Book Records for playing for 60 hours with one hand, for 60 hours with one hand and you dedicated that to the charity that also receives 5% from all the album sales of your record label, Soulistic Music. What a good soul you have, you have endured so much in the name of humanity and kindness and we thank you as South Africans, we are blessed to have you because you proved that you might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace. I also have no reason not to applaud you for reminding Africans to rise and be in the new Africa that goes for achieving its dreams at Moses Mabhida Stadium in 2011 with Africa Rising that had a live band with vocalists and 24-piece orchestra.
Growing up and schooling in the townships used to be seen as a place where one would never be successful at or as a curse since majority were always afraid dreaming and always undermining themselves with words like “success is only for the privileged ones” or “so and so is bewitching me because they are jealous”. People like you surely directs a powerful and bold memorandum to the youth to say that if it’s going to happen it is up to you to make it happen. You stumbled on several occasions in your career but you made it this far and still want to go more and more, your tears have clearly watered the seeds of your future happiness. You helped me see that one never really arrives on the success journey because it is endless. Your ability to play and create a magic with one hand also sends a robust message to people who no longer have some parts of their bodies operating to say your mind is still there as the essence of life, you can still do it like Dj Blackcoffee did. I’m more than pleased that you never ever gave up on your childhood dream that made you love noisy music things while other kids loved cars and guns. Music became your therapy and also helped you to heal some of us, those who have been in accidents shouldn’t throw the towel as yet and must revisit what’s close to their hearts, talents and God given gifts to find the connection with themselves again like you did with your music talent and dream. You are a living testimony that every dream is possible, whether you are deaf, blind, rich, poor, sitting on a wheel chair, have one leg, have one eye or whatever that other people think won’t fulfil your dream because they are blind to see it for you.
When you revealed on 702 that your next objective is to gun for a Grammy Award I was on some big T’bo Touch YES!! YES!! YES!! Big guns are never limited to dreaming, you passionately continued to say “My whole life I've tried to remain that same guy that was hungry in the beginning for success. I think I'm the hungriest guy in this industry.” I really like the fact that you are not comfortable on your seat, one would think because you are an international Dj and one of the most expensive Djs in the world you will maybe be big headed and think you are the main man but you just always stay and remain calm in your lane all the time and not comparing yourself with anyone even. You do illustrate to many of us that being hungry and staying hungry is necessary if we want to shine, even people like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo always remain hungry for more goals and accolades, it’s never about money as such but the dream. Floyd Money Mayweather who’s known as a big money spender also said the only reason why he was the World Champion for 18 years and never lost before he retired was because he always stayed hungry for more success and not money. It’s also with no surprise at all as to why Culoe De Song, Zakes Bantwini and Dj Shimza are presenting themselves in the humble, amazing and positive manner; you can just tell who they are working with, their environment is allowing them to shine and expose their talent professionally and stunningly. My Dj, you made me realise that I must stay hungry and never really do my work because of money but for the love of it and for reaching my dreams and goals of being the most influential speaker that transforms lives. I am also more than aware now that hard work, faith, prayer and giving back are more than vital and key going forward.
Bra Nathi, most Djs today are just Djs and not producers, they just want to play music and only do remixes of every new beautiful song that comes out. I just recently witnessed Nathi Mankayi‘s Nomvula and Adele’s Hello being remixed to a point where the poor beautiful songs were being killed by mob justice of Djs. One can then say such Djs are opportunist, they are like Hyenas that wait for the Lion to catch the prey first so that they can surround it to snatch it without the sweat of hustling for it, they don’t contribute their music flavour to the creative world of music like Black Motion, Da Capo, Heavy K, Culoe De Song, Dj Shimza and others that add their taste in the music soup. I think fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living because it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope that builds creativity and upcoming Djs certainly a have a lot to learn from your music journey of always learning and perfecting the skill over the years of also how you and friends Demor and Shota backed the legendary Madala Kunene and formed SHANA before you established your DJing career on a professional level in 2003. How you are reserved, studiously academic, inventive, imaginative, quiet, enigmatic and bold are very key and we must also learn from how you always stayed hungry for more with love and faith of reaching your music goals you always dreamt of in that small room you called Madala Hostel at your grandmother’s house in Mthatha. Paulo Coelho on The Alchemist says, ‘’When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” Mr Coffee I define an award as a sign of greatness, dedication and smart work, you have numerous ones to your name, even the international ones that enables you to fly the South African flag higher and still you never stop dreaming, you know sometimes things fall apart so that things can fall together and breakdowns creates breakthroughs* that ensures that people like you win DJ Awards for Breakthrough* DJ Of The Year internationally and it usually seems unbelievable as it happens. On all your accolades, the most fascinating one for me as well is of The Sunday Times Generation NEXT Award for Coolest DJ you won 3 times in a row; term “COOLEST” says more about your welcoming character and we must therefore call you Mr Cool in fact lol.
There has been some negative media reports about you from people who want to take you down for several times and I just love how you just stick to your dream of being recognized worldwide, and how you just remain in your positive lane because negative people need drama like oxygen and when you stay positive it takes their breathe away, you must also be aware that a thief never robs an empty house, you are the most wanted one because you more value. You offend too many people with your success. Most of us usually get crushed when negative things are said about us without being aware that we are actually being built in a mysterious way. I mean you experienced it from an early age, actually for years and surely your skin is of a crocodile now, you are stronger than before and nothing holds you back, we need the strength like yours because some of just cry in 2 months when we receive negative stuff that drag us down or when we are being laughed at, we just want to give up and begin to think maybe we aren’t even good enough since we are being mocked every now and then. Sometimes they also laugh at me, call me names, want to control how I do my work, say I seek attention or fame and also say my positive work doesn’t work since we are driven by bad publicity but I try to keep my head focused in helping the society to unleash their potentials because most people are not successful today due to negative mind-set system that was instilled in them. My motivational consulting business is not doing well as yet but I am not looking back anymore because people aren’t going to do it for me since they can’t hear the music that makes me dance, they think I’m crazy as I’m dancing alone. I am drafting my book now titled NOBODY IS BIGGER THAN YOUR BUSINESS that speaks about the human transformation because I realised that life becomes easier when you delete negative people from it and I will surely give signed copy my legend. Some days are also very hard as well in my acting, MCing and speaking career to a point where ideas and revenue aren’t really coming in at all but when I think of people like you, Oskido, Thandiswa Mazwai, Cassper Nyovest, Lindelani Mkhize, Vusi Thembekwayo, Siphiwe Tshabalala, T’bo Touch and Connie Ferguson, I get a lot of inspiration to continue with what I do and constantly remind myself that if it was easy then everybody would do it, I also surround myself with people who celebrate me now than those who humiliate me. A Rome was not built in a day and most of us focus only on the patience part of it without realising that it was also not built by one person with arrogant attitude but a team of humble souls that had a burning desire to succeed together.
On The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield says “I don't think that anything happens by coincidence... No one is here by accident... Everyone who crosses our path has a message for us. Otherwise they would have taken another path, or left earlier or later. The fact that these people are here means that they are here for some reason". I certainly believe that you went what you went through because God wanted you to send a unique message that is going to speak to the world about hope which is also one of the reasons why you are recognized internationally and I’m glad you took it upon by also giving motivational talks on seminars aside your music career. All your 5 albums: Blackcoffee, Have Another One, Home Brewed, Africa Rising and Pieces of Me have the soulistic touch that speaks to many of us and how you also respect yourself and others always helps many people to keep their heads focused above the sea level because the game is superior than all of us. Your life is a good book that one can change the universe with, please keep on shining and shining as you carry the South African flag to the highest level in the world of music and keep on winning the enormous accolades in the international level, we are fully behind you. You have immensity within! If I knew how to dance, I was going to support this letter with #WeDanceAgainChallenge video lol. Hopefully you will teach me because I can only speak and act. Honourable Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo, you are a blessing and may the almighty God continue to bless you with more and more. I have indeed learnt a lot from your journey.
Warm Regards
Teboho Thuswa
