Brasse Vannie Kaap's Mr Fat dies

2007-11-28 13:46

Cape Town - Cape Town artist Ashley Titus, better known as Mr Fat of the group Brasse Vannie Kaap, has died in the Groote Schuur hospital on Wednesday morning at approximately 09:00.

According to a Bush Radio news report the details surrounding his death are still sketchy. Titus's grandmother told Bush Radio News from their family home in Bonteheuwel that Mr Fat had spent some time in hospital, but that he had been released about two weeks ago.

However, he became sick again at home and was rushed back to Groote Schuur hospital, where he passed away.

Mr Fat, who was born and bred in Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats, was one of the original presenters of the hip-hop show on Bush Radio.

In a Bush Radio News interview earlier this year, he described himself as an MC, artist and hip-hop activist.

Since the 1980's, Mr Fat worked with many local artists until he embarked on a solo hip-hop career.

He broke into the local music market by focusing on rhyming tunes in gam taal about life in the ghetto's, "and not on doing everything in English, like most other artists did."

"The reality of the story is what you see is what you get," he told Bush Radio News. "People have got that notion that you must do happy music. It is our prerogative in life that you've got to cut out stereotypes, that's our calling," he said in the interview.

- News24