Tholi Boboza, Tholi Bazooka, Tholi Bakae. Whatever that you may call him, I call him Tholi Bologo.  I met up with him on a rather cold Friday in Jozi for some chat with him and to hear what he is up to these days. Well I lie, I’ve been hearing stories about him and this was a fishing expedition lol, joking. While sitting at our hook up spot waiting for him, I didn’t know what to expect, I mean the guy sounded cool over the phone but the extend I had to go to get him to agree with the interview, time and venue gave me an impression that I wasn’t about to have it easy. It seemed as though he was a very busy guy.  While deep in thought about the interview and wondering if he will be a good interviewee, he walks in and I stand up to greet him, he orders a glass of water and I waste no time with the questions. Here we go…

Cedrick :Most of us think that we know who Tholi B is based on what we hear on radio and what we see on TV but we are at most times wrong. So, who is Tholi B?

Tholi: My real name is Rofhiwa Bologo. I was born in Venda were I spent most of my childhood. I then came to Jo’burg in the mid 90′s and I spent my High school years at Florida Park High in the West rand, I was also elected as a prefect in my matric year in 1998, so the leadership skills have always been there.

Cedrick: How old are you Tholi?

Tholi: I am 28

Cedrick: How did you get into radio?

Tholi: I joined AK on “The Joint” on YFM presenting a feature called “The Joint Street team” in 2005 which was an idea that I had come up with. Then I decided to record Demos as an on-air Presenter, which worked out for me at the beginning of 2007. My first show was on the 1st of April 2007 which was a grave yard show, and I never looked back ever since.

Cedrick: You also did a great job as a host of Bakae, how did you land that Gig?

Tholi: I love Bakae and I’m glad that it did very well and will continue to. South Africa loves that show, you don’t understand. I auditioned for that gig and it wasn’t until I got the job that I started having my own input. I beat some seriously big contenders for that gig.

Cedrick: Hamba wena!!! Have you thought of adding acting to your cv too?

Tholi: All the time, I’ve actually done some KFC advert back in the days that required serious acting and ya, I  cracked it. I think about it quite a lot, I think its a time management issue right now. And also i can’t give up djying for acting, I love it too much and our film and television industry in Mzansi isn’t very stable, is it? Although it’s picking up, you might just see me acting very soon if our film industry keeps growing like this.

Cedrick: The acceptable fashion in radio these days is to become a club dj then releasing an album, should we expect an album from you anytime soon?

Tholi: It’s much harder if you are a Hip Hop DJ to release an album, -it’s not as easy as licensing a couple of songs and releasing them. There is a lot involved and frankly not worth it for me. But don’t write me off as yet, DJ Khalid made it work very well in the states. “All i do is win win win no matter what”!!!!

Cedrick: Ummm stick to breathing bra, singing is not for you

Tholi: hahahaha

Cedrick: I was hoping that you would replace Sbu when he left, did you have the same expectation too?

Tholi: Who didn’t? Hey you will be the first to know when our programmes manager resigns, I need a man like you in that position, hahaha.

Cedrick: hahaha. Y FM has produced some of the big names in radio, I’m certain that you do not wanna be stuck at a Youth radio station till your pension fund pay outs are due, which radio station would you wanna work for next?

Tholi: The question is who wants me to work for them next, hahaha. When the time is right and I’m relevant to a different market, only then can we identify the market and the Radio Station they fall under. You will be the first to know, hopefully you will be programmes manager and give me the breakfast slot. Hahahaha

Cedrick: Dreams do come true hahahaha. Being a radio DJ, I’m sure your knowledge of music beats mine, so which song do you think will get us dancing while spending our bonuses?

Tholi: It has to be between Professor’s Jezabel, Fisherman’s Happy song & Another song that hasn’t been released yet.

Cedrick: I think Professor’s Jezabel will be the one. On that Jezabel note, is there any women in your life that can confirm stories we hear about Venda men?

Tholi: Well there are a lot of stories, I can confirm some myself, hahaha. We are not all dark although I am, we can cook, We have biiiiiiiiiiiig ambitions and yes we are very smart. Thank you very much, I hope I helped.

Cedrick: Well not really? But ill let you off the hook for now.               

Tholi: Next time I will call a friend and it might just be a woman.

Cedrick: What does Tholi do when he’s not on air? Business on the side?

Tholi: I do a lot of Voice overs (Corporate, Radio and TV), I’m a mix DJ(hip Hop), I own a content downloading and mobile marketing company called Celebrity Talk Tone Mobile which you will hear more about it very soon and I have an event production company called Andani productions. Other than that I work on a lot of scripts for television programmes.

Cedrick:  You seem very secretive, when am I reading about your scandals, drunken stupors, baby mama drama etc? I mean look at Sibu, he rolls cars, threatens people, and tweets lame things so that people can talk about him. Why not you?

Tholi: I am not an attention seeker, I attend to myself and I let my job do the talking.

Cedrick: I’m going to give you an opportunity to come out and tell me something that you did that would land you on front page of Sunday tabloids if journos found it out.

Tholi: That would have be easier if they wrote about the good.

Cedrick: So you say there’s nothing?

Tholi: Nothing boss.

Cedrick: There is some story about you and some chick disappearing into the toilets at some club?

Tholi: No my man, MacG was trying to prank me with a story about me and some chikita at Capitol in the toilets, that never happened. I would never do that in a hundred years, I respect myself too much for that.

Cedrick:  Most of our SA personalities give the needy food and blankets in exchange for a pose with them, they call it charity work, I call it something else. Are you involved in any charity work?

Tholi: Yeah, Mostly back at home in Venda. My mom is a School principal and she helps me out with most of it, sup Moms!! But I don’t need the news papers to cover it, I got peace of mind.

Cedrick: Well the Mbaus (Khanyi, Mthembu and Crous) are closet readers of Just Curious, give them advice on what to do in order to stay out of the Sunday papers, that will count as community work.

Tholi: I don’t think they want to stay out of those papers and also I doubt they will listen to me. Attention seekers are like drug addicts, they get in too deep and can’t get out. Besides i don’t want to take the Sunday Papers out of work.

Cedrick: Is there beef between you and Euphonik?

Tholi: Are you sure this question is not for Mo Flava, haha. No I don’t, in fact in the last year or so we have established some kind of friendship. He is good with people and he has a hot girl.

Cedrick: Why would the question be for M0 Flava?

Tholi: Orata ditaba, you like gossip ne hahaha, it was just a rumour about 2 years ago but there is no beef as far as I know.

Cedrick: Who doesn’t? Who do you look up to?

Tholi: Well, Bob Mabena is one of them, the others are businessman you might not know including Mr Rudzani Dzuguda who owns Dzuguda Productions(TV), they are all great men.

Cedrick: How was Tholi B in school? Were you like one of those that entered high school with the wrong hairstyle, wrong clothes and wrong attitude, you know those that always come trembling down the leader to acceptable fashion.

Tholi: I was a very quiet scholar. People I went to school with can’t even believe that I am a radio jock. I did however get elected as a prefect in my matric year, that was hot.

Cedrick: People think that radio dj’s sit around the whole day and wait for their 3hours on air, what is a normal day in Tholi B’s life like?

Tholi: My normal day is filled with voice over work, meetings for both my companies; CTTM and Andani Productions and proposals of new and fresh ideas that Mzansi must be exposed to mostly TV and Events.

Cedrick:  Tell me a little about ROOM 69, who’s involved and all?

Tholi: Can you believe in the last 6 months my whole Room 69 team has been taken away from me, I had to start over with a new team. Ave is my new Technical Producer and I have just finished interviews to find a new content producer since the departure of the ill producer Phila. We are pretty much re-loading the show, I will have more to tell in a month or so.

Cedrick: Your callers call you a whole lot of things, Tholi Bazooka and all those names, what is the most ridiculous you’ve heard that you can remember?

Tholi: There are some very interesting ones I must say lol. Tholi Briyani comes to mind, someone was having that for dinner, as well as Tholi Bana Ba skolo Ba kgathetse, Tholi Blompoto, Tholi Blame it on the alcohol, Tholi Buying Power just to name a few.

Cedrick: People dream of a whole lot of things these days, big cars, big houses, big positions and all those things that make sense mostly in Kodak reality, what are yours?

Tholi: I guess everybody wants the big houses and the most expensive cars and I’m no different. I’m sure you have heard the saying “the house always wins” (gamblers know all about this and it’s true). In short I dream of winning, and the way to win is to be the house. So I am working on owning a lot of things.

Cedrick:  What would you be doing if you were not on radio?

Tholi: I’d definitely be a pharmacist or a scientist of some sort, I loved chemistry in high School and i was very good at it. I just love what i am doing now more.

Cedrick:  So what advice would you give to the future Tholis out there?

Tholi: Well, they won’t be quite be like me. I would like them to be much better and always remember in the end the strong will always defeat the weak. So they must be strong in their minds, beliefs, faith, decisions, health and everything they stand for. Don’t be an attention seeker, give yourself attention, and stay humble.

Cedrick: Thank you very much for your time Tholi Blompoto.

Tholi: Its my pleasure my man.

Interview by Cedrick Mashamaite ©

Article courtesy of: http://www.justcurious.co.za/2010/10/interview-with-tholi-b/