Prior to winning the best Hip-hop at SoundCity MVP during his visit in Lagos over the past weekend, South African rapper, Cassper Nyovest, opened up on African Hip-hop and the state of Hip-hop in Nigeria.
Cassper Nyovest
While speaking in an exclusive interview with Joey Akan of PulseNG, popular South African rapper, Refiloe Phoolo, famously known as Cassper Nyovest, revealed that Nigerian rappers are unknown in SA, as he talked about African Hip-hop in general and the state of Hip-hop in Nigeria.
While commenting on the controversial 2017 single “You Rappers Should Fix Up Your Lives” where M.I Abaga admitted that South African rappers are dominating the Hip-hop scene in Africa, Cassper agrees with M.I Abaga, stating:
“Yes, South African Hip-hop is in the forefront of African Hip-hop in general. It might not be as popular as it is in South Africa in Nigeria. But I know for a fact that the rappers from Nigeria are kinda unknown in SA.
“If we talk about crossing over, I know that a lot of people in Nigeria know about my music. I know that in Kenya and Ghana it’s the same thing.
“I’m not just talking about me, I’m talking about the movement. Sarkodie is big in Ghana, but are there other rappers who are as big as Sarkodie from Ghana? The South African Hip-hop movement is big across, also in London, New York…we are out there performing in different countries.”
Cassper also confessed the topic is controversial as he tried to explain his point further.
“Me saying that might offend people here. They might feel that I’m taking shots at Nigerian music. But that’s not the deal. If we are to discuss in terms of numbers and appeal across the world, it’s just the way it is,” he added.