Rapper, Arab, pays it forward

The municipal Youth Development Desk's 16 June show is by now a distant memory in most people's minds, but already the show has had an amazing knock-on effect in that it has brought a local rap star, who is rapidly gaining countrywide recognition, and a rising dancing star together. During the Youth Day celebrations at Loerie Park, Ashley Miles – known by many across South Africa by now as the rapper Arab, who is poised to release his first music video – performed some of his latest tracks. At the same show, a young dancing dervish in the form of Hornlee Primary's Grade 5 learner Shaquille Fortuin caught the attention of Arab and that of well-known SA hip-hop producer Ngane Sikobi. “This little guy came out on stage with Antonio Cleophas, a dancer that we know from Hornlee. He went on stage with the same old tattered school shoes he wears every day and killed it – we could see he had talent,” Sikobi said.