Bedfordview High School supports their very own hip-hop star

South African hip-hop artist Reason surprised Khumo Bokaba, a Grade 11 Bedfordview High School (BHS) learner, on February 7 after a video of Khumo rapping for his teacher went viral on social media.

BHS life orientation teacher Emily Pulumo’s first lesson for 2020 was on planning and setting life goals and decided to I ask the learners what their goals are and if they have achieved them.

“Khumo replied swiftly and confidently and said he had set a medium- to long-term goal for himself to be one of the biggest rappers in the world,” said Emily.

Khumo told his teacher he had posted videos of himself rapping in school last year, which has received attention on social media.

“He set a goal to get about 500 views. To his surprise he got about 700 views. That’s when he realised people are falling in love with his talent,” said Emily.

She said she has never heard Khumo speak about this goal and did not want to criticise him.

“I believed him and gave him my full support. I usually ask learners to showcase their talents, but I decided not put him on the spot,” said Pumulo.

After her arrival back at school, after taking sick leave, in January, she received bad news of a colleague who’s sibling had died.

“I was deeply affected by the sad news,” said Emily.

During the course of the day, she took the class Khumo belonged to for a lesson outside on the school grounds.

“I told the learners I am not feeling well because of the death of one of our staff members’ siblings.

“I requested Khumo to rap something for me to uplift my spirit, and without hesitation he began to ask the class to create a background sound.

“He then proceeded to freestyle rap inspirational words.

“Learners recorded him and it was posted on Twitter and the video of him rapping for me went viral.

“It got thousands of views and plenty of re-posts on social media,” said Emily.

After the response, hip-hop artist Reason came to BHS on February 7.

“All the learners were very happy to hear Reason has come to see Khumo at our school.

Teachers were also very proud of him.

Reason interviewed Khumo and gave him some pointers on his talent.

Reason told him to not mess up this opportunity.

“I appreciated his presence and support for Khumo,” said Emily.

Emily said she is over the moon that she could be part of this moment for Khumo.

“As his teacher, I am super proud of the amount of confidence and talent he possesses.

“I will continue to nurture his talent as best as I can,” said Emily.