Kgotso Semela aka Ben Sharpa aka Oh Kaptain My Kaptain (born March 25, 1977 in Soweto, South Africa) was a veteran underground rapper and music producer. Considered by many as one of South Africa's most accomplished lyricists, Ben Sharpa was a founding member of cult crews GroundWorks and Audio Visual.

Ben Sharpa has shared the stage with artists such as Immortal Technique, Jonzi D, Black Thought, Mr. Len and Jean Grae. In June 2006, Sharpa headlined alongside Wordsworth and Jonzi D as part of the Tri-Continental Hip Hop Festival - a historical 3-city Hip Hop tour that was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Youth Month in South Africa.

He was also a founding member of the performance crew for the annual Hip-Hop Connected lyrical theatre event held at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town every September (Heritage Month).

In 2007 He was discovered by accomplished BB1 Radio DJ Mary-Anne Hobbs, and soon after performed at the annual Glastonbury Festival (June 2007) on the BBC1 Introducing Stage. Watch footage and see pics of the show here

On July 26, 2018, Ben Sharpa passed away due to complications from diabetes at the age of 41.

Pioneer Unit Ben Sharpa page
Ben Sharpa Wikipedia entry
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