A few weeks before rapper and fashion icon Riky Rick's death, which is widely believed to have been through suicide, he teamed up with Venom, Shishiliza, Yumbs, Raspy, Blxckie and Tshego for the infectious and soulful single, "Sondela".
Since its release around Valentine's Day, "Sondela" has quickly risen to top charts across various platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.
Last week it reached the top spot on Risa’s (Recording Industry of South Africa), the official South African charts for both local and international music.
With the recent inclusion of YouTube, the charts are now said to reflect about 90% of all music streamed through legitimate digital platforms in South Africa.
Now, Venom, Shishiliza and Sony Music have announced that the single has reached one million plays on Apple Music and YouTube.
"Congratulations @VenomZM x @Shishiliza44 'Sondela' has surpassed 1⃣ Million Streams on @AppleMusic & @YouTube ▶️https://t.co/d6Dx9vWfMQ https://t.co/wMFMpdJq2i"
Congratulations @VenomZM x @Shishiliza44 'Sondela' has surpassed 1⃣ Million Streams on @AppleMusic & @YouTube
— Sony Music Africa (@SonyMusicAfrica) March 9, 2022
▶️https://t.co/d6Dx9vWfMQ pic.twitter.com/wMFMpdJq2i
With fans and the music industry still reeling from Riky's death two weeks ago, Shishiliza took the opportunity to add "LongLiveBossZonke" to his post as an ode to the late rapper.
“1M plays on for Sondela on @YouTube & @AppleMusic 🙏🏼❤️ #longlivebosszonke https://t.co/PKnGzyoisT”
1M plays on for Sondela on @YouTube & @AppleMusic 🙏🏼❤️ #longlivebosszonke pic.twitter.com/PKnGzyoisT
— 🇿🇼 SONDELA (@Shishiliza44) March 9, 2022
At last week's memorial Cassper Nyovest, with whom Riky Rick had been embroiled in a public feud for the past few years, said that he regretted not letting Riky know that he loved a video Riky that had posted of himself singing it in an Instagram video a few days before his death.
"Me and him were not on the greatest of terms even though we were speaking," he said.
"One of the things I regret was that I wasn't able to tell him how much I loved that video and how much I loved hearing him sing again."