No need to guess who's back to luxury raps. We sat down with the one and only K.O, Mr Cashtime for a few real questions in light of his #SupaDupa track that dropped at midnight last night.
Stream the track while you read on.
1. In your new song “Supa Dupa” you’re quoted as saying, “Ngiyazi iy’nyoka ziningi lana eGoli”, what’s your feeling towards literal snakes? Why?
The reason why I touched on that is because I mean obviously I'm speaking figuratively for the most part of course. I was touching on the fact that there are so many [snakes] two-faced people in the city especially in our industry. Having been in the game for so many years I've seen how some people have ill intentions and how conniving they are in how the move, like snakes. The kind of people that are hard to read in their actions. That’s the premise of the record. Over and above that, regarding real snakes, this video actually helped me conquer my fear of snakes that was my first time interacting with with them on set. It was crazy before I started engaging with them but soon as I got acquainted and just realized how they are friendly those particular ones were, in it was three of them are selling three at the same time. So it was pretty dope
2. What did you see in the dreams you rap about, have they been realised?
What I saw in my dreams is probably 80% of my current life, being the guy that I am and I knew I wanted to make business moves and partner with the right brands. I just like being able to change my life and that of my family, being able to provide for them through my talents. You know, that was my biggest dream but the journey’s still long. There's so many things that I still want to achieve. Beyond music, as an entrepreneurial person, I still want to see myself become the type of fashion icon able to take my clothing brand outside of just South Africa. One of my biggest dreams is being able to do more than just be an ambassador for ASICSTIGER. I want to be able to get to a point where I can also create as a Creative Director or anything of that nature, I want to grow my profile even on that level.
3. Supa Dupa has all the ingredients to be an club anthem, it has a very laid-back smooth sound, what inspired the song and how are you wanting it to be received?
The song was inspired by my trials and tribulations. Since I came into the game, the ups and downs. The message behind the music is there for the most part is is to inspire people. When you listens to it, I want you to be motivated and feel like you can still go on and pursue whatever path you want in life and continue chasing your dreams, the same way that I'm doing. The song has club appeal and I want it to live on the dance floor and on radio.
4. What was your fondest memory growing up? In the song you speak about sharing a bed with your siblings.
Watching how my parents made ends meet. I don't come from a well-off family or anything but I saw how my parents managed to finesse whatever the would earn at the time to take care of not only me, my siblings, relatives and other extended family like distant cousins. They were able to stretch the Rand and they earned to cover all of us is still a miracle to me. I will always admire that. I'm in a better position than they were financially so right now I also just like want to apply the same principle. Where I can, I want to help other people. I'm still giving back to my family but I also wanted to extend my hand to people that are outside of my family. I want to help people better their lives wherever possible. Yes sir.
WATCH SUPA DUPA MUSIC VIDEO HERE.
5. What was your worst memory growing up? Why?
There are so many. One that comes to mind is this time we went go to my grandma's house and I was playing, this was in the village. I remember a hut, one of those like thatched roof joints. So I was playing with a matchbox, right. This was around midday in winter.There I was, being a child and I set the hut on fire and fire spread to the other surrounding huts. And I burned the entire crib down. Yeah, it was crazy. And my mom gave me probably the worst hiding of my life. It’s something that I’m still ashamed of, but yeah, that's what happened.
6. You speak about being real, how do you navigate the real and the fake in the music industry?
One of the reasons I wrote the song is purely because of that, detailing how there are so many fake people in the industry but some good people too so it’s not necessarily dwelling on how fake people are, it's about making yourself “usable” and finding people that are usable to you as well. What I mean by that is making use of people that you can plug into and benefit from working with them and they can do the same when it comes to you. Outside of that for me it's all business at the end of the day people are people. Most of the time I don’t take things personal you know I just apply the same approach, for me to be able to have peace of mind to continue with my journey. You know but the awesome real people that I genuinely connect with on a human level not on some industry pretence. That's how I manoeuvre the space that I'm in, keeping vigilant and understanding that it's all business.
7. Who are the 3 realest artists out right now?
If I were to throw some names, Black Coffee is one of the realest artists regardless of where ever he is in his career right now or in the world, he is still able to pick up a call if you need something from him. He will assist you where possible, so to me that's just like one dude that has never changed and I respect them on the highest level. Outside of that I'd say the personal relationship that I have with AKA is pretty dope. The list is very short. There are other guys I respect as OG’s and the rest of the guys it's touch and go but I don't have any qualms with anyone so I think long as we understand that.
8. How do you keep haters at bay when access to celebrity is so much closer than a decade ago?
Haters are part and parcel of our industry you know, not everyone will love you. That’s just what it is. The sad part about now, especially with social media, it has given a portal to haters, it’s given them access to you as an artist. They can reach out to us as you know, people in the public eye and try and influence us in a negative way so it's just all about having a strong core and seeing past people's words. Sometimes people will be out there trolling and saying some of the cruelest things ever, but it's understanding that a lot of them are seeking attention, clout chasing. It's just really sick and twisted. But again, as long as you have a strong core and you don't feed too much into it. However you look at it, you know, they'll always be more people who admire and who are supportive versus those who are haters. So when yo focus on what's beneficial to you a hater is a small portion of your course.
9. You encourage fans in the song to “just push u-presse, uphande, ungasabi muntu Impilo izobangcono khona maduze”, what advice do you have for some of the aspiring musicians who may not have gotten a favourable response to their music from you on Twitter?
The aspiring artists that didn’t receive favourable responses from me, the idea of the whole exercise where I did an A&R thing on Twitter was not only to just give feedback to the artists that have potential but it was also just to say, bro, if it’s not your thing it's not it's not your thing and you need real people to be straight with you and tell you. If you're wasting your time, you need to invest your energy into something else that you’re good at. Funny enough, a lot of people took tt in a positive light. Maybe I did get a bit too brash in expressing my dislike of some folks music, but like it is what it is, I could never lie to anyone and mislead them that they were actually good, you know, when they weren’t. I'm just a real dude on that level. I had to keep it 100 in giving feedback because that's how I became the artist that I became because people just like kept it real with me. You will never grow if you can’t take real criticism at that early stage in your career.
10. You mention ASICS on your feet in the hooks, what’s your top 3 styles on feet most frequently?
The first pair of shoes that I ever bought before I started working with the brand was obviously GEL-LYTE III’s you know those are classics. Having gotten acquainted with the brand I think I have a new favourite based on comfort and the colour options, the GEL SAGA. I have recently gotten acquainted with the KAYANO 5 OG, oh geez those are insane bro! Those three shoes are my top three but most of the time we know Reese whenever you see me you'll probably find me in a pair of Gel SAGA’S. Yes sir.
