Young people from Khayelitsha are redefining and changing the outlook of this community with their talent.
Someone whose star is on the rise is Siyamthanda Thomas, known as DJ Mailomusic, who walked away with studio and DJ equipment worth R150 000 as part of an SABC 1 DJ competition.
DJ Mailomusic had been competing with other upcoming DJs across the country who were also eyeing the top prize.
But the 24-year-old worked extremely hard and doubled his efforts and his hard work paid off when he won the competition.
He says he could not believe it when it was announced that he had won the competition even though he had been getting positive feedback from the judges throughout the competition.
DJ Mailomusic says his family was proud of his achievement and really believes that he was heading in the right path.
He says he entered the competition in 2015 but was unfortunately he was knocked out in the quarter stages of the competition.
Nonetheless, he never gave up and opted not to enter the competition the following year.
DJ Mailomusic says he then took a decision to focus more on his skills and released a couple of singles in the meantime.
However, last year he felt that it was the right time for him to re-enter the competition with one thing in mind – to win it.
He believes that the competition was what he needed to launch his career.
He says he loves music and his father played quite an instrumental role in his career as he introduced him to various music genres.
DJ Mailomusic says at the age of 14 he realised that he had a passion for deejaying and knew that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
He says while his mother quickly shut down such ideas and always preached that he should focus more on his studies, his father was very understanding and supported him.
He says now that he has achieved what he has, his mother is now slowly starting to realise that this is his passion.
DJ Mailomusic dropped out of Grade 11 and enrolled at St Francis for a diploma in digital technology solutions and graduated in 2014.
“I want to be a beacon of hope to many other upcoming DJs. I want to be the best that I could possibly become. I want to make my parents proud. Khayelitsha must be known for good reasons. This is what I live for.
“I want to be the greatest DJ of all time,” he said.
DJ Mailomusic says he first released his track titled Ixesha and locally the song received positive feedback and airplay.
He says he his currently working on a remix of DJ Mobi Dixon featuring Nokwazi in a song titled Umculo.
Talking about future plans, he says he is planning on working on a new album where he hopes to feature the likes of well-known DJs such as DJ Zintle, Yanga Sobethwa, Sdudla Nmathosun, Prince Kaybee and others.
He also plans to launch the Mailomusic Foundation where he would assist young people with various career skills.