While hosting The Liberty Group’s workshop YouTube series Secure The Bag, rapper Cassper Nyovest shared how he wanted to sign with Sony Music, why the label wanted to drop his last name and how Oskido helped him secure a distribution deal.
The workshop – which will be repurposed into six parts – aims to prepare those in the Arts, Sports and Entertainment industry for financial fitness while also leading them to financial freedom and accessibility, reports GQ.
In the series’ first episode, Cassper was joined by a curated panel of industry experts, including Oskido and Pamela Mtanga as his co-host.
Pamela noted that one of the things Cassper is known for is owning his music and being his own boss. She also asked the rapper to clarify his distribution deal and working with Universal Music Group.
Sharing that Oskido’s music label Kalawa Jazmee assisted in his success, Cassper added, “A lot of them [other artists] signed bad contracts and they ended up not owning their music. They ended up in such bad financial states, but through learning about Kalawa we are able to basically do the same thing [own their music].”
Cassper then provided an example by sharing his journey into the music industry.
“We came from Maftown wanting to own our music. We learned from Oskido and Jay Z… you know Roc-A-Fella and Kalawa are the same thing. It got so hard that I wanted to give up. I wanted to sign to Sony at that point.”
He then stated that the music label wanted to give him R300 000 as an advance, a deal he wanted to take due to his lack of finances. However, there were two terms presented by the label that he did not feel comfortable with – owning his masters and changing his name.
“They wanted me to drop Nyovest, they said it sounded like a swear word. So they just wanted to call me Cassper… and they wanted to make me like the male version of Toya Delazy… and because of my ponytail they were like, ‘Yeah, we could do the same thing!’ So I was like, ‘This is not going to work for me.'”
Cassper then shares that he remembers HHP encouraged him to take the deal as he had put the deal together for the Doc Shebeleza hitmaker. The rapper also received a deal from Motif Records, who proposed to Cassper that he could own his master after three years. Cassper did not sign that deal either.
After creating his own record company, Cassper states that he started performing for funds for his first album to be released. “We went to look for a distribution deal, and one of the people who actually helped me with the distribution was Oskido.”
Watch what the panel of experts had to say below.
Also see: Cassper says upcoming album Solomon ‘wasn’t really named after’ bestie
