Popular South African rapper, Costa Tsobanoglou, professionally known as Costa Titch has collapsed and passed on while on stage.
The ‘Big Flexa’ rapper reportedly died while thrilling fans at the Ultra Music Festival held in Johannesburg on Saturday.
In videos making rounds on the internet, the singer fell down during the performance, but continued singing after he was picked up by his bodyguard.
He however slumped a second time and had to be carried off stage.
The 27-year-old was performing one of his songs, when he collapsed on stage. Later, he stood up and continued his performance, only to collapse once again and die.
South African media personality, Phil Mphela, confirmed the news via Twitter late night on Saturday.
Mphela wrote in his tweet, “RIP: Costa Titch. Nelspruit-born artist and dancer, real name Costa Tsobanoglou, has passed away. He was 27.”
Titch was popular for his contribution to Amapiano genre with hits such as ‘Big Flexa’, ‘Nkalakatha’ and ‘Activate’.
The rising star most recently signed a deal with Akon’s record label, Konvict Kulture.
Costa’s death is another huge loss for the South African music industry after his colleague, Kiernan Forbes alias AKA, was shot dead in February.
Who was Costa Titch?
The rising artist of South Africa was originally known as Costa Tsobanoglou. Fondly called as Costa Titch, he originally belonged to Mbombela, a city located near the border with Swatini and Mozambique.
He recently launched a remix song that featured US singer Akon. His most successful single, Big Flexa, received over 45 million views on YouTube.
His other songs like Nkalakaatha and Phezulu have also gone viral among people. During his recent interviews, Costa Titch had shared how his mother impacted his music career.
He gained international recognition after he stood at 14th position in an international Hip Hop Dance competition. Use of Izizulu lines in his songs has made his songs even more popular among public.