Whether or not Shebeshxt is really the most popular artist in South Africa is yet to be determined, but he is certainly booked and busy.
South African artists are having quite the moment right now. And while some South African artists have broken through internationally – like Tyla, who walked away with the GRAMMY award for The Best African Music Performance in 2024 – other artists’ dreams have been coming true much closer to home.
Eyebrows were raised all around the country near the end of 2024 when news started spreading that the rising-star rapper, Shebeshxt (who is also known by his real name, Lehlogonolo Chauke) was the most booked artist in South Africa.
Shebeshxt’s ‘most booked artist’ controversy
Shebeshxt, who has been hailed as one of the biggest artists to watch in South African music for the last few years, took to X (formerly known as Twitter) in December 2023 to share his upcoming gig guide.
This schedule spread like wildfire on social media since it included over 60 different appearances all over the country – including 2 performances already scheduled for 2024 – and a promise that “more events” would be added to the schedule soon.
And though this is certainly an impressive feat, some South African web-surfers have already started questioning whether one ‘booked and busy’ month is truly enough to call this popular rapper the “most booked artist in South Africa”.
Examining Shebesxht’s popularity
While the claims that Shebeshxt may just be the busiest artist in the country at the moment has certainly caused quite the uproar online, there is no denying that this young rapper has had a truly meteoric rise to fame in the last few years.
Shebeshxt first rose to fame in 2022 after his song “Kedi Shxt Malume” became an instant local hit.
And, to illustrate just how popular Shebeshxt has become in the last two years, this rapper’s most recent Spotify stats can be summarized as follows:
| Detail | Description |
| Total monthly listeners | 254,315 |
| Total songs | 24 |
| Total albums | 2 (plus about 30 additional singles and EPs) |
| Most popular song | “Ambulance” with 1.8 million streams |
How Shebeshxt’s schedule compares to those of other popular South African artists
It is tricky to compare the schedules of different South African artists, because there is such an array of talent and career trajectories at play.
And as a result, it is difficult to really tell whether artists like Shebeshxt (who lined up more than 60 performances in about a month) is really, technically busier than artists like Cassper Nyovest or Sho Madjozi, who may have less shows scheduled but have a higher production value and are touring throughout the world.
What Shebeshxt earns in a month
Whether the rumours about Shebeshxt being South Africa’s most booked artist is true or not, we cannot deny that this fan-favourite rapper likely made a killing with this tightly-packed schedule.
This schedule included stops at the Alex Music Festival, the EFF Youth Bash, Bakenberg Stadium, Lichtenburg Stadium and many, many more locations.
And, while we do not know exactly how much Shebeshxt makes per performance, this young rapper did share some interesting insights about his success in a recent episode of Podcast And Chill with MacG.
According to what Shebeshxt shared during this episode, he makes over R1 million per month through his gigs and other ventures.
This means that if Shebeshxt continues to line up gigs the way he did in 2023, he will likely become one of South Africa’s richest rappers very soon.
It looks like Shebeshxt is branching out
Shebeshxt’s jam-packed performance schedule is not the only social media post that has sent South Africans into a frenzy recently.
And while fans and critics alike were still buzzing about whether Shebeshxt was really the busiest artist in the country in January of 2024 or not, this up-and-coming rapper was fighting for his life.
Shebeshxt took to Instagram on January 30, 2024 to share that he had been involved in quite a serious car accident, but that he had been “blessed” and miraculously got away with minimal injuries.
However, this accident does not seem to have slowed Shebeshxt down one bit. Shebeshxt has not yet shared an updated gig guide for 2024 on his social media pages, but he did start the year off with an extra special “One Man Show” performance in January and has once again been touring the country to entertain the crowds.
In fact, Shebeshxt is set to return to Propaganda Pretoria for the big DJ Kathapila birthday bash on 23 March 2024. And at this stage, it looks like he may be trying to fit in even more gigs in 2024 than he did in 2023.
