DJ Tira is an educated man. A lot of people have this notion that South African entertainers are uneducated. Most musical artists start music straight out of high school, especially DJs. Some even drop out of high school to focus on creating music. We know Cassper Nyovest is one of those who dropped out of high school and became a musical success.

Whether most entertainers are educated or not is debatable, but there are a lot of academics in entertainment. DJ Tira is one of them.

The inception of his music career

Tira matriculated in the year of South Africa’s democracy in 1994. In the following year, he enrolled in the University of Natal, known as the University of KwaZulu Natal and UKZN. When he was doing the second year of his studies, he fell in love with the decks. He realised he was heavily interested in being a DJ.

Finally, he decided to learn how to DJ. Since he was from the KZN province, the sound was natural for him. He got booked to play in bashes and various events in his university years. Along his way up, he met and collaborated with many upcoming artists just like him.

After graduating from university, he told his family he was going to make music instead of a corporate job. Convincing his family to support him was very hard as they didn’t believe he would be successful. After months of getting bookings, his family saw he had potential. Eventually, they supported him.

He won a DJ competition.

In 2001 he won a DJ competition called the Smirnoff DJ Knockout Competition. With his win, he got more exposure and the opportunity to perform on bigger stages across the country. At the time, his industry wasn’t overly populated like it is now.

Tira was a Kalawa artist

A lot of people have the assumption that he started djing and just opened himself a record label. In 2005 he got signed as a Kalawa Jazmee artist. In 2007 he opened his record label called Afroteimemt, where he signed artists like DJ Cindo. Today he’s still going strong.

Education

As mentioned, Tira is a very educated man. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Huma Resources. He didn’t close off his academic chapter there. Tira also attained a postgraduate degree in Public Resources. He got the second degree to help him run his business and manage his artists in the initial phases.