five quick facts about the rap star Cassper Nyovest

Nyovest, Nyovest Nyovest! Cassper Nyovest is one of South Africa’s biggest stars. He is in a constant battle with AKA for the number one rapper spot and he has millions of fans. While no one would dare dispute Casp’s bar spitting ability, what do most South Africans really know about him?

Refiloe Maele Phoolo was born on 16 December in Mafikeng in the North West province. After an athletic school background led to him starting rapping in Grade 6, he eventually dropped out of school at 16.

“I told my parents that I’d rather chase my dream, which I believe is going to work out, rather than keeping it safe and regret it my whole life.” – Nyovest told MiCampus in 2014.

Alright, this is how it’s gonna go. We’ll present you with some facts and you see if you knew them or not. By the way, we’re talking a bit more advanced than “Complete the sentence: Doc Doc …”

Nyovest: The best active musician in SA?

His music carries a family touch

Nyovest’s debut album, Tsholofelo, is named after his youngest sister. His second project, Refiloe, was named after himself. He followed that up with his latest project, Thuto, named after his other sister. Many fans believe that his next body of work will be called Khotso, after his late brother.

The family naming business started after Tsholofelo gave him the R50 needed to take a taxi to Joburg to pursue his music. His debut album included Doc Shebeleza and went to number one on the local iTunes chart.

He isn’t afraid to give brands a public roasting

Nyovest has had an issue or two with local brands over the years. In 2016, he went after Super Sport for using the slogan “Slyza Tsotsi”. The slogan was taken straight from his song with South African DJs, Major League.

Casp also took on Savanna (you know, the “dry but you can drink it” people). Savanna had launched their new “Savanna dark” project. To promote it, they tried to use a slogan of “dark dark shebeleza”.

Mr “sexy chubby” no more

During the beginning of his career, the rapper always referred to himself as Mr Sexy Chubby. While his larger figure didn’t stop his fans loving him, his body shape has certainly changed.

Over the last few years, Nyovest has been sporting a six-pack and motivating fans by sharing his daily workouts on social media. Log on to Instagram and watch Cassper’s Instagram story, chance are, you will see him sweating into his phone as he runs.

Mr Fill Up Everything

This is where Cassper really shines. Over the course of his career so far, Nyovest made history when he sold out the Coca-Cola dome and then filled up the FNB Stadium. No international headliner, there was just Casp and his friends.

The run up to the shows saw hashtags go full-on viral across social media. For those shows, it seemed that all South Africans and the countries industries united behind local talent.

According to Nyovest, he put millions of his own money into getting the show at FNB all set up. On 2 December, he announced that 72,000 tickets were sold, compared to the attendance record of 68,000.

A very friendly ghost

Nyovest revealed in an interview with East Coast Radio that his rap name was a mix of two things he really loved. Music and his character.

“‘Cassper’ came from the cartoon, ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’. It is because of my character.”

“‘Nyovest’ is a word I made up. Growing up I was a big fan of Pharrell, and on his records he used to say ‘yezzir’ every time. So I put a South African accent on that and it became ‘Nyovest’. It’s whack!”