TV REVIEW: Pitch Black Goes 24/7 Without the Afro

So there I was going through my daily dose of primetime TV when suddenly a familiar face that I had not laid my eyes on in a while popped up on my screen. It is the quirky South African kwaito star, Thulani Ngcobo, AKA "Pitch Black Afro". My initial reaction was total shock at the fact that he is still alive (I did say that I had not seen him in a long while) and he was not just on a music video or TV commercial, he was on one of the most popular soaps on African television!

Pitch Black plays the character of 24/7 who is Red Records' newest artist on "Rythym City". He is a "has been" that used to turn the streets on back in his days with his music but unfortunately had a fall out and now Red has given him the rare opportunity to revive his career. He used to share the lime light and stage with Bongi Diamond (Thembi Seete) who also enjoyed a fair share of celebrity status in the same era. However, it seems that was not the only thing the two had in common as Bongi fears that 24/7's return might cause friction is between herself and Doc due to her previous infidelity involving 24/7 during her marriage to Doc.

All shade aside, even though the Hip hop MC is quite popular or even famous in reality, it is hard to see him as an influential personality with celebrity status on a production. Pitch Black Afro is one of those unorthodox celebrities with an unconventional image, and to cast him in a role that is supposedly right under the spotlight of glitz and glamour can be quite unbelievable. It was even worse when his character was said to have once been romantically linked with Bongi Diamond, who is in every way the epitome of celebrity. Despite the two being under drug influence at the time, this might not be a storyline that sells convincingly.

While the plot is a little shady, I was thoroughly impressed with the musician's acting skills. We know Pitch as a very vibrant, quirky and outspoken personality that can be quite all over the place in his manner of interaction, yet although he still maintains his lively persona in this new role, he is much calmer and collected. He is able to totally switch from who he is to fit into character effortlessly. We don't see him trying too hard or desperately wanting to be seen as a good actor. It's almost as if he is just being himself but being 24/7. He is also still quite street and still very much the authentically South African kwaito star we know him to be, which is the one thing that might actually fool us into accepting this whole situation. He does remind me of Generations' Cosmo though and thank God they didn't make him wear his afro wig onto set because that was also another huge element that helped him create a significant difference between the character and his real self. Rhythm City is known for using real artists to act as fictitious musicians in their show and this time they really walked a very narrow road but not all was lost.

Watch "Rhythm City" every weekdays at 7pm on etv.