The Hip Hop African

iFani is a South African Xhosa rapper who was born in Umthatha and raised in Port Elizabeth. ‘iFani’ is the end part of his middle name ‘Mzayifani’ and although he grew up being called ‘Mzi’, he chose to go with ‘iFani’ as the name that would stick on the lips of devoted fans.Ifani is often refered to as the comedian of African rap. The Eastern Cape native is known for his outrages lyrics that pushes many boundaries. Ifani studied computer engineering, the praciced computer science in Cape Town. Ifani could not see himself continuing a career in engineering. He grew up listening to American artists such as Tupac, Wu-tang Clan, Notorius B.I.G because it was different from what was around at the time which inspired him greatly.
Ifani admitted at first his rappering skills were not the best, and many even discouraged him to continue. Hype Magazine listed him as number one on their Top Unsigned Hype List in 2009, Club 808 selected him as their first Boxfresh artist in 2011 and the South African Hip Hop Awards named him as their Best Freshman in 2012. This year he received a South African Music Award in the best hip hop album category.