2Face O’Kelly – Rapper. Activist. Poet. Rebel. Actor. Visionary

Wynand Niemand (born 29 November, 1991) better known under his stage name ‘2Face O’Kelly’, is the next IN YOUR FACE rapper to come out of the Mother City. 

Born in a warm bath in a little town called Warmbat which is in the Limpopo Province (now Bela-Bela). Wynand grew up in the midst of a tumultuous 7de Laan relationship between his Mother, his Father as well as his siblings. It was perhaps this turbulent atmosphere which fuelled many of the songs ‘2Face O’Kelly’ would later come to perform. When his parents decided to go their separate ways, Wynand spent most of his time with his Father but kept up frequent visits with his Mother, before they relocated to Cape Town. 

It was Wynand’s brother who first introduced ‘2Face O’Kelly’ to the world of rap. His brother had posters of the duidlikste bra in rap history; 2Pac all over his room which led Wynand to start engraving the name “2Pac” in all of his school desks, thus later resulting in a young girl handing him 2Pacs ‘R U STILL DOWN’ album. This is where a lifelong love for the industry started, listening to 2Pac and Eminem, Wynand was absolutely captivated with their energies and the messages they were putting across. He found them to be relatable and connected with their hatred of liars and fake ass bitches. 

Some of his darkest days came when his father married his second wife (whom ‘2Face O’Kelly’ openly calls crazy and his mother gave her the nickname of Godzilla). For years this woman would physically, mentally and emotionally abuse Wynand, hiding it from his father and as the years went on the abuse only got worse. This “domtiet” was so poisonous and manipulative that she eventually forced his Father to step in and in an effort to bluff his wife, Wynand’s Father would sit ‘2Face O’Kelly’ on the edge of his bed and tell him that he was going to hit the bed with his belt and that Wynand should cry as if he had moered him. However her deception finally caught up with her once he figured out her “slang in die grass” moves and she gave her husband an ultimatum but Daddy decided to stick with his successful cum-shot, which then led to a long overdue divorce. If you were to ask ‘2Face O’Kelly’ he would tell you that he is convinced it happened because he simply got in the way of her never to be, fucked up, delusional picture-perfect, desperate housewife family. It was his life experiences to that point which motivated his creative drive to express himself through the written word and live by the “fuck it, middle finger in the air” attitude! Like most things in life there was an ebb and flow to his creativity but every time he would return to his passion, his talent and love for the industry grew with rapid momentum and not long thereafter the kak praaters had to hou their  fokken bekke – isja!

In 2006 the greatest heartbreak hit him and his siblings head-on when his Mother sadly passed away from a blood clot. He had written a few songs here and there, but when the tragedy struck he thought to himself “there must be more to life than this confined shoebox that the church made him believe was what life was supposed to be like”. In an effort to heal, he threw himself into music not giving a fuck about anyone’s opinion and became fanatical about expressing how he felt through rap…(playing with words in his Afrikaans speelgoed taal), he wanted to use his talents to create more awareness and wanted to do so in honour of his Mother – isja!

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