Cassper Nyovest talks about new music with Anthony Hamilton and more on Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio

This Week’s Episode Features a Conversation With Cassper Nyovest, the 5 Hottest Tracks of the Week, and Reni Folawiyo’s Favorite African Proverb!

Tune in to Africa Now Radio With Cuppy This Sunday, September 13th at 2p Lagos/London / 3p Johannesburg/Paris / 6a La / 9a NYC Only on Apple Music 1
Cover Star Interview
South African superstar Cassper Nyovest joins Cuppy via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about his new album and most personal project to date A.M.N (Any Minute Now), the theme of the album taking on a different approach with fatherhood and working with Anthony Hamilton on a record via WhatsApp.

The Big 5
Cuppy shares the 5 hottest new African tracks of the moment. This week’s selection includes new tracks from Davido, Olamide, Mr Eazi, DJ Edu and Tyler ICU & Nicole Elocin.

Africa Rising
Nigerian artist, photographer, fashion designer and film-maker, Wavy The Creator, is this week’s Africa Rising artist, a campaign which shines a light on the next generation of African superstars.

Proverb of the Week
Nigerian fashion entrepreneur, Reni Folawiyo, shares her favorite African proverb in Yoruba: “Ọwọ́ ọmọdé ò tó pẹpẹ; ti àgbàlagbà ò wọ akèrègbè.” which translates as “A child’s hand is too short reach a tall shelf; the hand of an elder person is too big to fit the tiny mouth of a gourd”. The meaning behind it is that life is about collaboration and we need each other.

Mini Mix
Cuppy finishes this week’s show with a special mini-mix featuring selections from East Africa’s hottest playlist EA Wave, which is available on Apple Music https://apple.co/3lZnpRj

Tune in and listen to the full episode this Sunday, September 13th at 2p Lagos/London / 3p Johannesburg/Paris / 6a LA / 9a NYC only on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow

Cassper Nyovest on building an African hip hop community

I’d really like to get the conversation of African hip hop back into the topic, because I feel like there’s a big, big opportunity for African hip hop in the continent. I don’t really care about America and Europe and all that stuff. I really think we have an opportunity to create a big hip hop community in Africa where we can travel each other’s countries, where South Korea can come South African play to 10,000 people. I could go to Ghana, Nigeria.

Cassper Nyovest on making a track with Anthony Hamilton via Whatsapp

Cuppy: What really caught my eye, you posted the tracklist, the features… Some of my faves, Busiswa, Samthing Soweto, Anthony Hamilton. What?

Cassper Nyovest: He’s such a dope guy because believe it or not, me and Anthony Hamilton made a song through WhatsApp.

Cuppy: No! You have to tell us the story.

Cassper Nyovest: For real. It was all through WhatsApp. There was no email. There was no manager. I’ve worked with a lot of big guys, man, and even guys in South Africa. And it’s a long, long, long convo. Anthony Hamilton, we met sometime at the Global Citizen concert and I took his number. And I hit him up two years later like, “Yo what’s up man? I’m trying to do this record.” He was like, “Yeah, send it through, send the record on WhatsApp.” That evening, send the vocals back. And we started talking about more vocals, and then the song was done. And then there was no back and forth of the Hollywood. So I have so much respect for him. Very organic.

Reni Folawiyo’s proverb

The proverb I have chosen is a Yoruba proverb and it goes like this. “Ọwọ́ọmọdé ò tó pẹpẹ; ti àgbàlagbà ò wọakèrègbè.”

Cuppy: Okay. So you’re going to have to walk me through that.

Reni Folawiyo: Literally, in literal English, it means “A child’s hand is too short to reach a high shelf, but then the elder’s hand is also too big to enter the calabash,” which is a gourd that we have traditionally with a very narrow neck. So it’s a gourd that’s commonly used in Yorubaland to store water, palm wine, herbs, and such things. So whenever there is any need in the household to retrieve any item from the gourd, they ask a little child with a small hand to put their hand inside to retrieve it. You know. And the first part, which is “Ọwọ́ọmọdé ò tó pẹpẹ,” it’s the hand of a child does not reach the shelf. So it’s only the adult’s hand that reaches the shelf.

Cuppy: But then you need the child after. So it’s a collaboration.

Reni Folawiyo: So life is a collaboration.