Last week, Cassper Nyovest and Priddy Ugly held a press conference at Moloko Pretoria ahead of their exhibition boxing match at Pretoria’s Sun Arena this coming weekend.
During Nyovest’s remarks, he appeared to take a potshot at AKA and K.O when he bemoaned that their latest chart-topping singles, “Sete” and “Lemons”, aren’t actually hip hop songs and are instead more Afrobeats leaning.
“If you listen to ‘Sete’ and you listen to afrobeats, it’s the same,” he said.
“But it’s a hot song. Fortunately for everyone else they can explore, but as soon as I touch another sound it’s, ‘Yho you’re disrespecting hip-hop’. It’s tricky.”
After the press conference, I asked him what he thought about Afrobeats and amapiano and how the sounds of the continent are merging.
I also asked him to expand on his remarks on “Sete” and “Lemons”. I think Africa right now is like one thing. We’re getting closer and closer to each other. Amapiano plays in Nigeria just as much as it plays in South Africa, which is dope.
“So for me I think we’re all influencing each other. There’s Nigerian guys and Afrobeats guys making amapiano, and now we have some of our big artists starting to make Afrobeats.
“I’m not hating on that. I was just highlighting that for me it’s something that I’ve observed everyone else can play with sounds and it’s all cool. As soon as I do it I’m not a rapper anymore.
That’s what happens when you’re the biggest, man, everyone’s got something to say.”
With his frequent beefs and his alienating himself from the industry by constantly playing victim, our piece also touches on how Nyovest may be boxing himself in.