AmaPiano artist Tumelo “Semi Tee” Ramila has been criticised for promoting drugs through his latest track, Ama Uber.
But he said he was trying to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs.
The artist said fans had completely misinterpreted his message.
The genre has been generally discriminated for promoting an unhealthy lifestyle by magnifying unsafe sex and going buck wild with drugs and alcohol.
But Semi Tee said that was not the aim when he released what he said was one of his most loved songs.
According to the artist, the song is about a group of people who started smoking drugs but one of them refused indulging and went home to sleep.
He was sidelined in the morning and was told to rather take a bath in the kitchen sink as he was nothing compared to the rest of his friends. They abandoned him because he decided to stay clean and not become and addict.
He said most of the listeners ignored these lines of the song.
“They focused their attention on the lines which state that some used drugs,” he said.
Semi Tee said he was excited that masses enjoyed his song, which was released earlier last month, but his happiness quickly came to a halt.
“I was saddened by comments that it promotes an unhealthy lifestyle. I released this song to raise an awareness that using drugs is not good. I do say in the song that labantwana bawrongo, labantwana ama uber, meaning that they are doing the wrong things and trying to spread it by influencing others – that’s why I compared them to an uber, you can request an uber anywhere,” he said.
He said although the song has received both love and hate, he was ready to spread it to the rest of Africa.
By Boitumelo Kgobotlo
