Star 2022-01-04

Shingai Darangwa shingai.darangwa@inl.co.za Blxckie’s incredible two year run started under unusual circumstances when, during the initial 21 day lockdown in 2020, he found himself stuck in Johannesburg . Cooped up with a few musician friends with nothing to do but make music, the Durbanite and his friends proceeded to release new music almost on a daily basis during an inspired couple of weeks. “It gave me the time I needed to really zone in on making music,” he told Breakroom Africa’s Jade Kelly last year. “And it’s what finally pushed me to abandon everything else and just really do it. I spent those three weeks with Lucasraps, 808Sallie, Shouldyuang, and Yungseruno and we really just dropped music on Soundcloud every day. It was like a little experiment and people went…

Bang Showbiz Willow Smith felt “brainwashed” into thinking she was a brat during her younger years. The 21-year-old pop star suffered anxiety attacks after releasing the hit single Whip My Hair in 2010, and has confessed to feeling overwhelmed by the situation at the time. Smith said: “That was crazy. I was brainwashed into thinking, ‘No, you’re being a brat, suck it up’. Then I grew up, and I realised it was something that needed to be dealt with.” However, Smith found that exercise helped to improve her mental health amid the coronavirus lockdown. She told The Independent: “I became a little obsessive with physical exertion – I didn’t allow myself to feel [anxiety], I just wanted to run it out. Sometimes the body is so intelligent.” Smith’s parents –…

Hank Stuever Oh, BETTY! Dear Betty, sweet Betty, saucy Betty. We always knew the day was coming, but you were so good at helping us pretend it would never get here. Betty White, who was found dead last Friday at age 99 in her Brentwood, California home, did not, as the obituaries are factually obligated to tell us, leave behind any children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren. But come on now. Betty White is survived by, to begin with, all the thousands of hilarious women in comedy and TV who find new ways to define their craft every day: the Tina Feys, the Amy Poehlers, the Julia Louis-Dreyfuses, the Cecily Strongs, the Sarah Silvermans, the Issa Raes, the Kaley Cuocos, the Mindy Kalings, the Ilana Glazers. She is also survived by…

Thobeka Ngema thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za Police are looking for the driver who drifted his vehicle along the shoreline of a Richards Bay beach over New Year’s weekend. Only the top half of a Rover could be seen sticking out of the water off a Richards Bay beach after the driver ‘showboated’ in front of beachgoers. Two videos of the incident, which apparently took place on New Year’s Day, have gone viral on social media – one of the driver showboating and the other of the semi-submerged vehicle. There are other videos and images of the semi-submerged vehicle and recovery by tow trucks. uMhlathuze Municipality spokesperson Mdu Ncalane said on the day of the incident, the municipality’s traffic officers were working at the entrance and exit points of the beach. Ncalane said besides…

Chulumanco Mahamba chulumanco.mahamba@inl.co.za THE SA Students Congress (Sasco) has declared 2022 the year of “positioning activism at the centre” as the student movement urges its volunteers to report to their campuses tomorrow for the 2022 Right To Learn Campaign. Sasco, one of the largest student movements in Africa, said it was charged during its 8th national general council held in December to position Sasco as a popular student movement and to develop inclusive methods to resolve problems faced by the new-generation student and the higher education sector. “Against this background the 21st national executive committee has rightfully declared 2022 as the year of ‘positioning activism at the centre; consolidating towards a single co-ordinated post-schooling education and training sector’,” the organisation said. Sasco National said it envisaged a smooth Right To…

Lehlohonolo Mashigo lehlohonolo.mashigo@inl.co.za THE AA says human error cannot be the foremost reason for deaths on our roads, as suggested by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula. Giving the preliminary festive season road statistics at the end of last month, Mbalula said some motorists did not value life. “Human factor remains the main causal factor for most of the crashes during that period,” he said. The association’s spokesperson, Layton Beard, told The Star that road fatalities have been a concern for a number of years in the country. “When we look at the figures over the last couple of years, we haven’t seen a significant drop in the number of road deaths at all. It certainly is a huge cause of concern for us,” he said. He said there needs to be…