Why was the idea of Cashtime conceived? You were part of Teargas and 10 years deep in the game at the time. Most people would consider a new venture like that a massive risk, especially because you never know how people will receive change.
First of all, like you say i had a nice solid run with Teargas. but on out third album I started to think that I wasn’t content with what we were bringing to the game.
Getting to the music, what’s really impressive to witness is that you’re flourishing at a time in your career when most start to decline. What ignited this second (and better) wave of K.O that we’re seeing?
First of all, I’m a fan of hip hop music through and through and when I got into rapping it wasn’t because I wanted to be a star. I’m such a fan of this sh*t and all I wanted to do from the jump was contribute in some way to this culture.
Do you feel you had something to prove to people, lyrically?
Definitely. I think the whole thing started when ‘God’s Will’ came out with AKA and me. That’s when I changed my whole style of writing in terms of just the sh*t I wanted to say. I started to actually make my sh*t more intricate and started playing with that and seeing interest in that.
Your lyrics became so aggressive all of a sudden…
There was a conversation that I had with my homie before I brought Thabiso in and I was telling my guys that there are new n*ggas killing sh*t on the scene if we were not relevant, cats were about to move back to their mothers cribs. That’s how serious things were.
Get the full interview with K.O in our current Aug/Sep issue of HYPE where he further discusses his move to scouting Nomuzi AKA Skhanda Queen and his plans for the CashtimeLife brand.