I got to chat with one of the biggest voices currently on the world’s hottest social media app, TikTok, and he goes by the name of @officialkingburger aka Jahid Burger.
If you ever heard these words, “in the name of the barber, the blade and the spirits, die fade is ingemoer”, coming from your kid’s phone then you have an idea of who I am speaking about.
Jahid is the creator of this viral TikTok that now stands at over 600 000 views and thousands of redos.
When I asked the real Burger to stand up, he responded with: “King Burger is a raw, non sugar-coated and authentic artist from Lavender Hill, at the same time a comedian.”
Burger has been around for over 10 years, but he actually comes from a musical background as his family was in the Kaapse Klopse and had their own band.
He says everyone in his family could sing, except him which attracted him to rap adding that he was strongly influenced by the life stories of Biggy Smalls and other rap stars.
For years the TikTok star tried to push his music through Facebook and Instagram and, yes, it got views, but not the type of views to launch a music career.
When level 5 lockdown hit about a year ago he, just like many of us, discovered TikTok and tried it out.
At first it was tough, but when the earthquake hit he made a video that went viral and then his love for TikTok really blossomed.
He realised that he could make people laugh and that they enjoy it when he brings some humour into their daily lives.
So now he had a platform that he could use for comedy while also pushing the music that is his first love.
It is difficult to box @officialkingburger now because he has so much influence on TikTok that he could easily be classified as an influencer, too.
TikTok also allows one to respond to people’s comments with a video and the biggest trending song on the social media platform used to respond to negative comments is Jy is ’n Hartseer N***, which also belongs to @officialkingburger and features Jamie Barthus.
At times some of Burger’s responses are quite cold and dark, but I understand that there is little control on what people can say to you on TikTok.
It’s an app dominated by the youth and they can be very brutal at times, so one has to be brave when venturing into this territory.
This is one reason why I personally was not too keen about TikTok because people can really tear into you and this is part of what makes TikTok different to Facebook.
Love him or hate him, the point is Burger is pushing hard every day to reach his goal and his TikTok page is already standing at over 55.5k followers, more than 750k likes and climbing.
I think this is only a small reflection of his reach and influence on TikTok, if you take into consideration all the features he has done on some of the strongest TikTokkers’ pages in Cape Town alone.
In my opinion, @officialkingburger is here to stay; his humility will carry him and he is proudly Lavender Hill, as he says "die hele Lavender Hill ruik soes sop".
At the end of all the TikTok madness, @officialkingburger is a musician and he says people can look forward to him producing lots of new music.
He is currently busy with an album that will be launched soon, so keep watching his page.
When I asked him about the negative comments he receives, he said: “I would be lying to you if I told you it bothered me. I just give them their shoutout en dan is als verby. I just keep pushing towards the dream.”
In a message to the youth, he says: “Believe in yourself in whatever you do and don't let the negativity of the world make you feel any less of what you are worth.
“You can do anything you put your mind to as long as you have consistency, ambition and hustle.”
When I asked him about being an influencer, he says: “I don’t really see myself in that light, more of an artist but if I can promote any small local business out there with my platform then by all means, I have already started doing that.”
With that said, follow @officialkingburger on TikTok for straight talk, no-nonsense comedy and lekker new local musical content.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za