29/02/2024
Article One A: Poet Extraordinaire
Blaq Ink ZA is a multi-talented Poet, Rapper (yoMthonyama) and Songwriter who has been crafting incredible works since time immemorial. Born Zukisa Bikitsha in Bika, eGcuwa (Butterworth), Eastern Cape, he came to Cape Town in 1996, living in Makhaya, a sectional area of Khayelitsha, the second biggest township in South Africa.
When asked about when did he start writing, he says as young as six years old, when his paternal grandfather, after whom he is likened, bought him a notebook and pen for his birthday. This is the same man who named him Zukisa, going to impress on his grandson that, "ukuzukisa akuphelelanga only in the pulpit". With that understanding of his name from the old and wise man, Zux (his nickname by his friends and family) took his "calling" very seriously and invested in upskilling himself by reading more and engaging with written material a lot more than he ever did. This burning desire for literature exponentially increased when he got to Cape Town and was introduced to the world of libraries.
One of his fondest memories of performing was as a kid at Red Cross Children's War Memorial Hospital (RCCWMH), where he was awaiting brain tumour surgery as a result of a birthmark inherited from his grandfather, whose name was Ntabayikhonjwa Bikitsha (Ntaba for short, or BraNtabs to his contemporaries). He says there he performed to a room fully of so many faces, he was so nervous he kept looking at the door and measuring the time it would take to get there and his chances of getting out before he was caught. The support he got, though, got the better of him and went on to wow the crowd, which included staff, other patients, family and friends that were visiting, as well as patients from other wards. After that, the rest was history...
The story continues...
