Cassper Nyovest born as Refiloe Maele Phoolo
On 16 December 1990) is a South African Hip Hop artist, songwriter, entrepreneur, and record producer. He was born and raised in a town Mahikeng, North West, South Africa.
Cassper is regarded as one of the most successful artists in and the richest In South Africa in 2014. He founded his own private record label, Family Tree Records where he released his famous debut studio album Tsholofelo in 2014 which had many hit singles like “Gusheshe” and “Doc Shebeleza”.
Nyovest had a successful concert in 2015 which was held at Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg which triggered him to pursue more concerts in different stadiums annually, including Orlando Stadium IN 2016, FNB Stadium in 2017, all in Johannesburg, Moses Mabhida Stadium in 2018 in Durban, and Royal Bafokeng Stadium in 2019 in North West.
On 31st October 2015, Nyovest released his eponymous studio album, he titled Refiloe, at his Fill Up The Dome concert. He featured many artists in the album including The Game, DJ Drama, Stonebwoy and Casey Veggies.
Other albums followed the success trend include third album Thuto (2018) his kwaito fourth studio album, Sweet and Short (2019 )
Early life
Refiloe Maele Phoolo popularly known as Cassper Nyovest was born on 16 December 1990 in a town called Mafikeng, a borough of North West, to his parents Muzuki and Letsebela Phoolo.
He has two siblings, a sister Tsholofelo Phoolo, and the late brother Khotso Phoolo who passed on in 2003
As a student in Sol Plaatjie Secondary School in Mahikeng, South Africa, where he participated in several sporting activities.
In 2006, he started rapping at the age of 12, this led to his failure in Grade 10 exams then he moved to his grandmother’s house in Potchefstroom.
Subsequently, he dropped out of High School due to poor performance.
Nyovest relocated to Johannesburg in pursuit of his musical career in 2008 he informed his parents that he would rather chase his dream than continue education, which he strongly believed that would work out.
He was quoted as saying ‘’I told my parents that I’d rather chase my dream, which I believe is going to work out’’ -Cassper Nyovest.
Personal life
In July 2015, Boitumelo Thulo and Cassper Nyovest confirmed they were both dating officially on cover Drum magazine after several denials in the past. The magazine suggested that they were engaged which Nyovest denied claiming that the magazine was trying to increase sales with the false claim. The relationship didn’t last as it ended in December 2015.
HIS JOURNEY TO HIS MUSICAL CAREER.
2004–2014: Beginnings and Tsholofelo
Earlier in 2004, Nyovest formed a hip-hop group named Childhood Gangsta with his hood guys while at the age of 13.
He left the group to join another hip hop group named Slow Motion, which had eight members including a producer named Aashish Gangaram of Ganja Beatz.
Refiloe Maele later signed a deal with a record label called Motswako record label Impact Sounds.
In 2006, this same record label signed other South African artists including Morafe and Tuks Senganga.
In 2008, both parties, (Nyovest and Impact Sounds) separated due to irreconcilable differences, which made Nyovest an independent artist.
Nyovest was later discovered by a hip hop legend, Hip Hop Pantsula while performing on the stage. He then moved to establish his own record label ‘’Family Tree Records’’ in 2014, after moving back home. In 2013, Nyovest debuted with a track he called Gusheshe which he featured Okmalumkoolkat.
His second single, “Doc Shebeleza”, which was also released in 2014 named for kwaito artist Doc Shebeleza. The song was positively accepted by various south African acts including the beautiful Yvonne Chaka Chaka
Nyovest released his debut album On July 18, 2014, named Tsholofelo, which he named after his only sister. The album recorded great success, topping the chart on the iTunes SA consecutively for two months. In October that same year, he was ranked number 1 on the MTV Base show.
18 July 2014, Nyovest released his debut album ‘’Tsholofelo’’ named after his sister. The album was an outstanding success, peaking number 1 on the iTunes SA album chart for 2 consecutive months (July and August).
He became number one on MTV Base Show in October 2014, Nyovest went on to become The Hottest MC in Africa and was ranked no.2 on MTV SA’s Hottest MCs that same year.
2015–2016: Refiloe
Main article: Refiloe
Sequel to the success recorded by Tsholofelo, Nyovest released limited copies of 10,000 the platinum edition of the album on 17 April 2015 which included a few new tracks with collaboration with Wizkid, Casey Veggies, DJ Drama, and Anatii.
On 31 October 2015 Nyovest announced the concert at Ticketpro Dome, Johannesburg called ‘’Fill Up The Dome’’. He was quoted as saying, “I want to fill the dome, which currently accommodates up to 20,000 people, to its full capacity”.
Nyovest released his lead single Mama I Made It (#MIMI) from the second album on 14 August 2015. He sold out the tickets for that event as he announced on his Twitter account.
The Refiloe album was certified gold because ticket buyers received a complimentary copy of the album on that day, certified platinum for 40,000 copies shipments domestically.
On 29 October 2016 Nyovest announced his second ‘’Fill Up Orlando Stadium’’ at Orlando Stadium, Soweto in Johannesburg. It was a huge success as a massive audience turned up to the event as there was a total of 40,000 (stadium’s capacity) attendance.
Nyovest was ranked no.1 on MTV Base SA’s Hottest MCs list in both 2015 and 2016 and also ranked number 1 on the Hottest Rapper in Africa since 2014.
2017–present: Thuto and Sweet and Short
On 5th May, Cassper Nyovest released a lead single titled ‘’Tito Mboweni’’ from his third album, named ‘’THUTO’’ the name of the single was named after South Africa’s Minister of Finance and The Former SARB governor Tito Mboweni third album Thuto. The single had a commercially popular catchphrase ‘’sha sha’’ which is the sound of money notes.
The album was certified old on the very day it was released by RiSA, it didn’t take more than a month when it was certified platinum.
Nyovest stepped up his game on 17th November 2017, when he announced his third “Fill Up” event, at the 94,736 capacity stadium, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
It was his biggest challenge ever, he planned to fill only 75,000 of its capacity. Nyovest this time around didn’t meet up to his expectation as he had difficulties in funding the event, which he luckily got big sponsors like Ciroc SA, SAABC1 and Budweiser.
Nyovest dropped his fourth album in 2018, titled ‘’Sweet and Short’’. The Album was certified platinum on the day it was dropped.
On 1st December, Nyovest reduced his expectations for another “Fill Up” concert held at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban.
This time, he was able to sell 68,000 tickets which were a huge success. Nyovest performed at the Motsepe Foundation presented the event the following day, Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 headlined by Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
On 15 December 2019, Nyovest took his fifth annual “Fill Up” home and performed at the event at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, a city of North West the province of his nativity.
Criticism
A lot of hip hop fans criticized Nyovest for abandoning the genre, this triggered his massive comeback in 2020, with a dope track called GOOD FOR THAT.
Businesses
Endorsements
Nyovest got several endorsements with several brands, the biggest of them was with vodka brand, Ciroc.
He was also endorsed by MTN and AG Mobile in launching a smartphone named AG Hashtag. Other brands include Shoprite, Samsung South Africa, Coca-Cola, KFC SA, Castle Lite and Nike SA.
Controversies
Nyovest’s biggest rival AKA started a feud that began in 2014 when Nyovest claimed to have the biggest song in South Africa Hip Hop, this prompted AKA who was promoting his new single then, responded in a tweet ‘’ There is a raper running around saying he got the biggest song in the country… i challenge you to find his song in the iTunes top 100’’.
In a swift reaction, Cassper responded through a tweet to clarify why his song was bigger than AKA. This prompted harsh reactions from both rappers on the timeline on several tweets.
They were booked to perform on SABC1 music show, Live Amp in August 2014. This triggered a physical fight as a member of AKA’s group allegedly pulled a gun on Cassper and his team.
In 2015, Nyovest Cassper reported that AKA slapped him which caused both rappers to release diss tracks.
In 2018 Nyovest established that he would never reconcile with AKA, this has seemed to be true as both hon each order’s neck to date.
On Feb 25, 2020, he replied to Prince Kaybee that he is so obsessed with him in a tweet.
‘’You’re so obsessed with me my dawg. Lol… Like it’s worrying. I’m just living my life nje tryna push and 2 minutes, 2 minutes o bua ka nna. Kante ke eng sese kana kana Kabelo? While you’re out there thinking of me, please stream my new single ‘’:
On March 2020 a fan asked Cassper about his record label family tree studio, he replied Contractor Flees |Cassper’s Contractor Flees With Funds For His Studio!
Cassper’s Contractor Flees With Funds For His Studio! Cassper works very hard and has business ideas,and in his brand, especially his record label, Family Tree.
Unfortunately, the project has a great setback as there seem to be serious issues holding the process..
Lawsuits and civil disputes
“Fill Up” trademark
In 2018, Nyovest wrote cease and desist letter to Xitsonga musician, Benny Mayengani who was to carry out his concert named, #FillUpGiyaniStadium. He accused them of using his Trademarked similar phrase ‘’FILL UP’’
However, a thorough investigation revealed that Nyovest did not trademark the phrase and therefore can not take any action.
Awards and nominations
Nyovest received several both local and international awards and nominations.
In 2013 he won four awards at the second edition of the South Africa Hip Hop Awards.
In April, he was nominated at the 12th Headies Award in Nigeria in the category of Best African Artiste alongside Nasty C, Sarkodie from Ghana, Kenyan group Sauti Sol, and Tanzanian singer Vanessa Mdee.