Cassper Nyovest

Born Refiloe Maele Phoolo on 16 December 1990 in a Mafikeng village called Montshiwa, Cassper Nyovest's love for performing developed at an early age in primary school. Inspired by his late brother, Khotso Motebang Phoolo, a rapper who sadly passed on in 2003, Cassper decided to take on the music world and hasn’t looked back since. He started out as a member of CHG (Childhood Gangsters) in 2004 but broke away as his ideas matured. Later that year he joined another crew, Slow Motion. In 2008 at age 17, Cassper got a record deal with Impact Sounds, arguably the strongest Motswako label at the time, with artists like Tuks Senganga and Morafe. After spending two years with the label without signs of his album dropping, he decided to part ways and start his own label, Press Play Music. This came as a major setback and forced him to move back home to his grandmother’s house in Potchefstroom.

A few months down the line, he wrote a song 'Holla at a Pantsula', which blew up in his neighbourhood and on YouTube. Labels started noticing, including an artist Cassper looked up to, from the same streets of Montshiwa, Hip Hop Pantsula. HHP featured Cassper on a track from the album Dumela, ‘Wam Tseba Mtho’, which put him on stages across South Africa, and crossing over to international shows in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia and Mozambique. He also toured with HHP and Tuks to the UK in December 2011, performing in Camden and Milton Keynes. Cassper also features on HHP’s hits ‘Past Time’ and ‘Padapa’.

The video for Cassper's single 'Wahala', ft Young Slugz, ensured regular airplay on Vuzu TV and Channel O. Cassper then produced alongside Aashish of Ganja Beatz a single titled 'Gusheshe' ft OkMalumKoolKat, which was playlisted across most major radio stations and also earned TV airplay thanks to the video, which Cassper co-directed alongside Nicky Campos. His next single, 'Doc Shebeleza', produced by Sean Craig, also did extremely well, hitting over 100,000 downloads in just four weeks. After scooping numerous SA Hip Hop Awards in 2013, Cassper Nyovest has quickly risen to become one of the most successful artists in South Africa. Between August 2013 and March 2014 he performed over 100 shows. In mid-2014 he released his debut album, Tsholofelo, which was certified gold a few months later for sales of over 20,000. That year he also opened for touring American star Kendrick Lamar. He was the big winner at the 2015 Metro FM awards, taking home five trophies. Soon after that, he received five nominations for the 21st annual SAMAs.