Kast talks about the 1,000km walk, Tlatsa Lebala
Dumisani Ncube | Wednesday March 22, 2017 14:56
Looking a bit tired, Kast put on a brave face as he walks into a hotel conference room while talking to the Tlatsa Lebala project manager, “Nna ke tshwere ke tlala”, as he formally introduces himself and sits down to ready up for the interview.
“Physically that was the worst pain that I have ever experienced in my entire life, mentally I feel like it is something that everyone should do at some point in life. It was a spiritual experience full of motivation and love,” the 35-year-old Kast said, as he narrated about the longest walk of his life from Maun to Gaborone. He said he came to learn and appreciate more about life during the walk.
“I am more patient than I have ever been, life is what you make. I didn’t loose hope. There was so much motivation despite the pain,” he said. The rapper noted that during the first days he and his team would use a distant landmark to determine the distance that they would walk, but the more they walked the more the landmark seemed further away.
“It was weird to look at landmarks for five hours walking to reach them. Sometimes we would walk for nine to 10 hours a day because I was limping. I would even walk at night to cover more distance,” the Sejabana rapper said.
While walking Kast had a film crew recording a documentary, which is yet to be released as a series.
He noted that the scariest moment of the walk was when he had to pass through the Makgadikgadi/Nxai game park, which he walked on for two days. The game park is home to wild animals such as leopards, lions and elephants.
“Honestly, we were nervous when we passed the park. When passing the park we were told stories about wild animals. There was a police officer who regularly checked on us during the period when we were at the park. We saw elephants, but they would walk away when they saw us approach. Leopards were our main concern.”
Now that the walk is over and he still has not found an official sponsor for the event he noted that the work still continues as his team is working on finding one while getting ready for the event.
The rapper has only received pledges from different individuals and cooperates. He recently received P265,000 from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) to cover costs.“We haven’t consolidated anything so far to see how much we have. We still need to cover more costs for the production side, security and other elements. We are pushing the event now, we are in a good space. We are getting pledges. We going to work on activations to boost the event and keep it relevant,” Kast said.
Before and during his long walk he had critics throwing shade that he is ‘too ambitious’. Some were saying ‘he (must) smoke the highest grade of marijuana, which has made him go crazy’.
“I have always said it, critics fuel me up, they ignite the fire in me. At the end of the day I also have people that support me. Apart from that I received overwhelming love from Batswana. They are kind people.”
Prior to the MYSC announcement in support of the project last week, Tlatsa Lebala project manager, Masie Hule noted that they need P900,000 to make the event a success.
On Saturday when he was walking his final lap his mother walked up to five kilometres in support of him.
The rapper noted that his mother has always believed in him citing that the time when Tlatsa Lebala flopped he was left broke and it was his mother who came to his rescue, as she helped him financially.
The rapper is also working on printing out copies of his old musical content, which is now in demand after his long walk, which reminded many of his yesteryear hits. He is also working on new material.
When quizzed if he will ever walk such a long distance again he laughed saying, “Eish! Dawg ask me after a month or two when I am well rested and fit again.”