If you have been following Prince Kaybee’s increasingly athletic social media presence, his next chapter will come as no surprise, but hearing him articulate it in person adds a different kind of clarity to the story.
The Citizen caught up with the award-winning DJ and record producer, whose real name is Kabelo Motsamai, at Rockets in Bryanston on Friday morning, at the media launch of his upcoming three-day cycling challenge from Johannesburg to Durban.
The super producer engaged in a candid conversation about injury, reinvention, intentional living and why he can’t wait to reclaim his crown as the One Meal A Day (OMAD) King.
A crash, a calling, and a change of sport
Prince Kaybee’s relationship with physical sport is well-documented.
He has spoken openly about his running background and his years in motorsport, a chapter that came to an abrupt and painful end when overconfidence on a track led to a crash that left him with a broken ankle and wrist.
“I got overconfident, and I crashed. I broke my ankle and my wrist, so I cannot run anymore. I can walk, yes, but I can’t run because it’s too much for my joints,” the DJ told The Citizen matter-of-factly.
Cycling, he says, was the natural solution.
“Cycling is a much better sport, very lenient on your joints, so I can push myself further with that. And I found a home in cycling, actually.”
This isn’t even a new chapter for a man who has rebuilt himself physically more than once, and spoken openly about how his late mother’s death from an obesity-related illness fundamentally shaped his relationship with health and his body.
The athlete’s edge he curates for himself
Ask Prince Kaybee about how training has changed him mentally, and he gives an answer that is more considered than most.
“Mentally, I’ve always been a very strong person, but there’s just that one piece of advancement that you can acquire by pushing yourself and I’ve managed to kind of channel myself into that.”
What sets his experience apart, he explains, is his awareness of the process.
“For most people, athletically, research shows that they get to that point without knowing.
“But I think I can be able to curate that journey for myself and that’s a pretty dope attribute to have – to be able to assign yourself to the mental clarity, not wait for it to come to you.”
The physical changes have been more straightforward.
“I’ve dropped quite a lot of weight, but besides that, I’m still the same in terms of strength.”
Sleep like a champion – mostly
One of the lesser-discussed benefits of serious athletic training is what it does to your sleep, and Prince Kaybee is enthusiastic on this point.
“The sleep is amazing, the deep sleeps are amazing.”
He does add a caveat that will be familiar to anyone who has ever pushed themselves hard in an evening session: “Sometimes when you do too much, especially in the evening, your muscles take a while to shut down, and you just spend the night on your phone and stuff.”
But that, the producer says, is the exception rather than the rule.
OMAD King on his own terms
Perhaps the most talked-about aspect of Prince Kaybee’s health regimen – and the one that has drawn the most debate online – is his commitment to OMAD, an intermittent fasting approach in which a person consumes all their daily calories within a single eating window.
“I generally just want to eat once a day. I’m an OMAD king,” he said with a grin. “I hate eating more than once.”
Training for a multi-day cycling challenge has, however, required some compromise.
“If I do have a crazy training session, especially one that takes place in the afternoon, after that I have to have some recovery shake or some carbs to fill up my glycogen levels.
“For me, that works. It’s not a full crazy meal because I don’t like eating at night.”
The dietary adjustments are intentional and specific: more carbohydrates to fuel long training rides, recovery nutrition timed around sessions, and a plan to return to strict OMAD once the peak training block tapers down.
“As soon as the training tones down a bit, I’ll go back to eating once a day.”
It is an approach that has previously attracted commentary on social media, with some suggesting it edges into disordered eating territory.
Prince Kaybee has consistently pushed back on that characterisation, citing his mother’s passing as a deeply personal motivator for his disciplined relationship with food.
From frenzy to intention
The conversation shifted, as it always does with Prince Kaybee, to music, and here, too, the theme of intentionality wove a golden thread.
“I used to be a studio rat. I’m no longer one. I go to studio when I feel like it. Before, I used to go even if it wasn’t necessary, because the passion, the fire was just too much.”
He described his earlier approach to music-making as a “frenzy”, both creatively charged and directionless.
Now, the producer says, he could go two months without touching any equipment and feel no discomfort about it.
“I’m more minimalistic now. I’m more intentional in the stuff I want to put out. It’s all curated within my life experiences.”
The shift, he says, is the defining evolution of his career so far, which is now more impactful, in his view, than any single release or achievement.
Hindsight, he acknowledges, makes it easy to see why the frenzy was never going to be sustainable.
Three days, two wheels: Joburg to Durban
The Johannesburg-to-Durban cycling challenge is exactly what it sounds like: a gruelling multi-day ride covering hundreds of kilometres across some of South Africa’s most demanding terrain.
From the 13 to 15 June 2026, Prince Kaybee will embark on the inaugural HiPace Cycle Challenge.
Together with some partners, he will follow a route from Midrand through the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) before finishing at Durban South Beach with a stop in Bethlehem, where he will be performing at the Frontier Casino after riding hundreds of kilometers.
He is not done with cycling after this, either. “I’m still going to cycle after this,” he made clear.
Supporters and curious onlookers can follow the journey through Prince Kaybee’s social media channels.
