TKZee

Tokollo 'Magesh' Tshabalala, Kabelo Mabalane and Zwai Bala were school friends who formed TKZee as a kwaito group in the 1990s, and the South African dance genre became their calling card. Their sound leaned heavily on sampling, pulling hooks from sources as far apart as Joni Mitchell and Europe, and that willingness to reshape familiar tunes became central to how the group was heard. Their records made kwaito a familiar sound across the continent.

Their 1996 debut EP, Take It Easy, did not sell well, but their second, released in December 1997, changed that. The track "Phalafala", which sampled Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", became a hit, with the CD single selling over 100,000 units. Ahead of the 1998 World Cup they worked with Benni McCarthy, then of Bafana Bafana and Ajax, on the EP Shibobo, which passed 100,000 sales in just over a month. The debut album Halloween followed that year, earning Platinum certification and four SAMA awards. After an eight-year hiatus the group reunited in 2008, and "Shibobo" was performed at the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup at Soccer City in Johannesburg. Tokollo Tshabalala died in August 2022, aged 45.