If you don’t know him, local
rapper Da L.E.S is one celebrity you would love to hate. From the American
twang to the narcissistic persona, there are a lot of things one can frown upon
once the name of the Jozi group member is mentioned.
But I felt there was more to
the man than cheesy lines and clowning around. If Tropika Island Of Treasure
were to be used as an example, there’s no denying that Da L.E.S is truly a
charmer.
Starting out with 14
contestants, seven who are celebrities, the fifth season of the show proved to
be the most interesting yet as you could never predict how it would end. With strong
players like rapper AKA and actress Jay Anstey, you wouldn’t have bet on Da
L.E.S being the “last man standing”.
However, as we saw last
Saturday, the rapper upset the form book and his bank account has been
refreshed by a cool R1-million after walking away as the winner of Tropika
Island Of Treasure.
“Man, when someone says to
me ‘hello, how are you feeling’, I can now safely tell them that I feel like a
million bucks,” said an ecstatic Da L.E.S.
Beating five other fierce
contestants, including Pearl Thusi, Phuti Khomo and Jay Anstey among others,
the rapper insists he never thought that he would end up being the winner of
the huge prize.
“To be honest, I had no game
plan whatsoever.
“All I wanted to do was to
have fun and just hope that I was not the first one back home, because that
would have been really embarrassing,” he revealed.
But being both a celebrity
and a charming person, Da L.E.S got people saving him throughout the show as he
was the “life of the party” for many fans of the show. People confessed they
were big fans of the Tippy Toes rapper.
Also, the female competitors
seemed to be in competition for his attention. His job was just to make sure he
remained relevant to everyone.
“It was probably a strategy
without me even knowing it,” he said.
Perhaps, because his game
appears to be effortless, Da L.E.S never gave winning much thought.
“I remember the day before
the final games when I had a chat with Fresh, telling him I could not believe
that I had gone this far,” he said.
What does a twenty-something
South African rapper do with a sudden fortune like R1 million?
“I am going to invest it in
the most important asset to me, and that’s me,” he said, struggling to contain
his laughter.
“No, seriously though, I
will put the bulk of it in my music. I am planning to take my music to the US
this year and so this money came at the right time.
“But we will obviously leave
some out for a celebration party,” he added.
While the Jamaican dream has
ended for all the other contestants, Da L.E.S has plans to return there, but
for business this time.
“I plan to shoot a video in
beautiful Jamaica. I am releasing an album on July 26 and so that would work
really well.
“It will be almost in the
direction that Snoop went but I am not going to go that crazy,” he said.
When the arrogance wore off
the rapper became a very sweet boy who thought a little less of himself.
“I just want to thank God
for this blessing.
“I also want to thank all
the contestants for saving me from eviction.
“We all became a close-knit
family and I want them to know I appreciate them,” he said.
Da L.E.S becomes the third
celebrity after Shashi Naidoo and JR to win on this show.
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