Refiloe Maele Phoolo (born 16 December 1990), professionally known as Cassper Nyovest, is a South African rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, record producer and amateur boxer.
[4] Nyovest rose to fame with the release of his debut studio album, Tsholofelo (2014) which produced the hit singles "Gusheshe" and "Doc Shebeleza".
The album collaborates with several artists including The Game, DJ Drama, Stonebwoy and Casey Veggies.
[10][11] Nyovest attended Sol Plaatjie Secondary School where he was an athlete, playing several sports, and he started rapping at the age of 12.
He made the move after telling his parents that he would rather pursue his dreams—which he felt were within his reach—rather than playing it “safe” and “regretting it” his whole life.
He then left to join his next group, Slow Motion, which had eight members, including record producer Aashish Gangaram of Ganja Beatz.
[18] Before establishing his label, he was discovered by late rapper Hip Hop Pantsula while performing, who featured Nyovest on his song "Wamo Tseba Mtho".
[26] With the success of Tsholofelo, Nyovest released a platinum edition of the album; this included new songs and collaborations with Casey Veggies, DJ Drama, Wizkid and Anatii.
On 14 August 2015, Nyovest released “Mama I Made It” (#MIMI), the lead single from his second album, and one of the promotional songs for the Fill Up The Dome concert.
[29] Nyovest managed to sell out all tickets for his event, as he predicted; on 25 October 2015, this was announced via his Twitter account.
Nyovest had some struggles in funding the show, but finally got 3 major sponsors in assisting him: Cîroc SA, SABC 1 and Budweiser.
[44] Nyovest's following "Fill Up" event venue was at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban which was scheduled on 1 December 2018.
[46] The following day, Nyovest performed at the Motsepe Foundation presented event, Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 headlined by the Carters.
[48] On 15 December 2019, Nyovest performed at his fifth annual "Fill Up" event which was held at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, a city of North West – the province where he was born.
[51][52][53] The album features Zola 7, Samthing Soweto, Langa Mavuso, Tellaman, YoungstaCPT, Busiswa, Nadia Nakai, Khuli Chana, Tuks, Mo' Molemi, Towdee Mac and DJ Lemonka.
[55] On July 30, 2021, Cassper dropped his first ever Amapiano studio album Sweet And Short 2.0, which consists of 10 tracks featuring Abidoza, Samthing Soweto, LuuDadeejay, Kammu Dee, Lady Du, Ma Lemon, Semi Tee, Boohle, DJ Sumbody, Reece Madlisa, Thulz, and Zuma.
[56] On September 4, 2021, he embarked to United Kingdom for AmaFest Tour along with DJ Maphorisa, DBN Gogo and Focalistic to promote Amapiano genre.
[75] A boxing match titled "Actor vs Musician" was held at Sun City Stadium on the 9th of April 2022.
[81] In August 2014, the pair were scheduled to both perform on SABC 1 music show, Live Amp when a member of AKA's entourage allegedly pulled a gun on Cassper and his team.
[82] Further controversy arose in 2015, when Cassper accused AKA of slapping him which led both rappers to release diss tracks.
[86] On 13 April 2018, he received a nomination at the 12th Headies Award in Nigeria in the category of Best African Artiste alongside Nasty C, Sarkodie from Ghana, Kenyan group Sauti Sol, and Tanzanian singer Vanessa Mdee.