Cassper Nyovest

Refiloe Maele Phoolo (born 16 December 1990), professionally known as Cassper Nyovest, is a South African rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, record producer and amateur boxer.

Born and raised in Mahikeng, North West, he is regarded as one of the most successful artists in South Africa.

Refiloe Maele Phoolo was born on 16 December 1990 in Mafikeng, a borough of North West, to Muzuki and Letsebela Phoolo.

Nyovest has a sister named Tsholofelo Phoolo; their late brother, Khotso Phoolo, passed on in 2003.

Nyovest attended Sol Plaatjie Secondary School where he was an athlete, playing several sports, and he started rapping at the age of 12.

In 2004, aged just 13, Nyovest formed a hip hop group called Childhood Gangsta with his friends.

He then left to join his next group, Slow Motion, which had eight members, including record producer Aashish Gangaram of Ganja Beatz.

In 2006, Nyovest failed his Grade 10 exams; this led to him moving to his grandmother's house in Potchefstroom.

At age 16, and after dropping out of school, Nyovest signed with motswako record label Impact Sounds, which also signed artists like Tuks Senganga and Morafe (in 2006); the relationship between Nyovest and Impact Sounds eventually soured because of creative differences.

After this, in 2007, he decided to formally drop out of high school at the age of 16.

In 2008, Nyovest relocated to Johannesburg, to pursue a career in music as a rapper and producer.

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.

In 2008, both parties separated, with Nyovest becoming an independent artist.

Nyovest moved back home, and created his own record label.

Before establishing his label, he was discovered by late rapper Hip Hop Pantsula while performing, who featured Nyovest on his song "Wamo Tseba Mtho".

Nyovest released his debut single, "Gusheshe" (featuring Okmalumkoolkat), in 2013 and, in 2014, established his record label named Family Tree Records.

His second single, "Doc Shebeleza", was released the same year, and named after kwaito artist Doc Shebeleza.

The song received positive reviews from the public, and was praised by notable acts, such as singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka.

In 2014, he established his own record label, Family Tree Records.

Nyovest rose to fame with the release of his debut studio album, Tsholofelo (2014) which produced the hit singles "Gusheshe" and "Doc Shebeleza".

On 18 July 2014, Nyovest released his debut album Tsholofelo, named after his sister.

The album was an outstanding success, peaking at #1 on the iTunes SA (South African) albums chart for two consecutive months (July and August 2014).

In October 2014, Nyovest was ranked as the top artist on the MTV Base show The Hottest MC in Africa, and was ranked no. 2 on “MTV SA's Hottest MCs” that same year.

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.

With his success of selling out tickets for his concert, Fill Up the Dome (2015) which was held at Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg.

Nyovest released his eponymous studio album, Refiloe, released on 31 October 2015, at his Fill Up The Dome concert.

The album collaborates with several artists including The Game, DJ Drama, Stonebwoy and Casey Veggies.

The platinum edition was released on 17 April 2015, with a limit of 10,000 copies printed.

At the end of the third quarter of 2015, Nyovest announced his intention of headlining a concert called Fill Up The Dome at the Ticketpro Dome, Johannesburg, on 31 October 2015.

He was quoted as saying, "I want to fill the dome, which currently accommodates up to 20,000 people ... to its full capacity".

He also announced that his second album, titled Refiloe, will be released on the day of the event.

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.

Nyovest managed to sell out all tickets for his event, as he predicted; on 25 October 2015, this was announced via his Twitter account.

On the day of the event, ticket buyers received a complimentary copy of the Refiloe album.

This promotion resulted in the album being certified gold on that very day.

The album was then certified platinum for shipments in excess of 40,000 copies, domestically.

The success of the event pursued Nyovest with the affix "Fill Up" to instigate more concerts in different stadiums annually, including Orlando Stadium (2016) and FNB Stadium (2017), also both in Johannesburg, Moses Mabhida Stadium (2018) in Durban, and Royal Bafokeng Stadium (2019) in North West.

Nyovest then announced a second event, Fill Up Orlando Stadium, to be held at Orlando Stadium, Soweto, in Johannesburg on 29 October 2016–two days prior to the Ticketpro Dome event.

The event was a success, and there was a total of 40,000 people (stadium's capacity) in attendance.

He followed this success with his critically acclaimed third studio album Thuto (2018), and his Kwaito-focused fourth studio album, Sweet and Short (2019).