K.O Continues to Make Hits After More Than a Decade in Music: From Teargas to Creating Amazing Solo Brand
Rapper K.O recently made quite the comeback with his current number-one song, SETE. The musician has an interesting past in the Mzansi hip-hop community. Skhanda God has grown his discography for over a decade since he started as part of the iconic group Teargas.
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K.O, whose real name is Ntokozo Mdluli, only continued to grow after he focused on his solo career. He worked hard on his now iconic solo career, establishing himself as one of the biggest players in South African hip-hop.
Source: Instagram
How did K.O become the rap king we all know today?
How old is K.O's?
K.O was born on 13 October 1980 in Soweto, Johannesburg, to Thembisile and Jabulani Mdluli.
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His parents moved to Piet Retief in Mpumalanga when he was still a baby.
K.O's early life
Ntokozo is an educated man. He attended the Vaal University of Technology, where he studied for a National Diploma in Public Relations Management.
Mr Cashtime was almost a police officer
According to an article by SowetanLive, K.O struggled to find work after graduating.
His mother took matters into her own hands and sent his CV to the South African Police Service.
Thankfully for the Mzansi music scene, the rapper didn't go for an interview.
"The day of the interview I knew I was struggling but I couldn't go through with it," he told the publication.
When was Teargas formed?
Ntokozo created Teargas with Ma-E and Ntukza, who K.O studied with at university. Ma-E and Ntukza are brothers from Soweto.
K.O transitioned from working in public relations to dropping his musical group's first album in 2006.
Their debut album was titled K'shubile K'bovu and was a resounding hit on the scene. Their hit song was Chance which was about their township life and had a strong Kwaito sound.
In 2008, Teargas released their album Wafa Wafa. A year later, they dropped their third album, Dark or Blue.
By this time, Teargas was working with big names like DJ Tira, who collaborated with them on the song Life.
Their last album together also featured Toya Delazy on Paradise.
The group's final project together was Number Number in 2012. After that, K.O started his solo career.
But Teargas lives on, according to Ntokozo, who went on record to say the group didn't break up:
"We have decided to individually try new things just like Mafikizolo did. We are taking a break but it does not mean we are a dead group."
K.O becomes Mr Cashtime in 2014
Although Teargas took a break, K.O joined forces with his bandmate Ma-E to create an entertainment company, CashTime Life.
K.O was the first artist signed to the label.
The rapper was dubbed Mr Cashtime as he dropped his first solo album Skhanda Republic in 2014.
Cara Cara makes hip-hop history
The album gave Mzansi his biggest hit ever, Cara Cara, which clocked a million views.
At the time, the song had the most views of a South African hip-hop video.
Cara Cara also made history as the first hip-hop song to win the South African Music Awards' Song of the Year.
2014 to 2017 sees K.O making big moves
2014 was quite the year for K.O.
Mr Cashtime delivered a verse on AKA's Run Jozi (Godly), which was dubbed one of the greatest verses in Mzansi's rap scene to date.
In 2017, K.O also signed with Sony Entertainment and dropped Skhanda Republic 2.
The rapper also collaborated with Okmalumkoolkat to make Don Dada.
PTY UnLTD was K.O's body of work for 2019.
K.O dropped the album's lead song Supa Dupa, which went gold, clocking 20 000 sold copies, the only rap song to do so in 2019.
K.O's replicates Cara Cara's success in 2022
In 2021 Mr Cashtime announced his fourth album, Skhanda Republic 3 and dropped Playback. His next single, Emoyeni, was released in 2022.
Ntokozo made waves after dropping a hit on the same level as Cara Cara called SETE.
K.O featured Young stunna and Blxckie, and they have been soaring high on the charts since.
The song is officially double platinum, and the music video went platinum in 16 days.
It's believed this song reached gold status the fastest in Mzansi.
K.O also got attention after hitting back at Big Zulu's diss track 150 Bars. The star dropped Omega as a response, which was well-received by fans.
K.O climbed his way to the top one hit album at a time. The rapper's latest hit proves that he is one of the OGs in SA hip-hop.
His consistency speaks for itself, and so do the numbers.
It is clear that K.O is here to stay, and we can only expect more from here.
K.O credits Big Zulu with reviving SA hip-hop after rapper's epic diss track
K.O was in the headlines after dropping Omega Freestyle as a hit back at Big Zulu's diss song. The two artists' musical battle left many hip-hop fans excited.
Mr Cashtime took the time to acknowledge Big Zulu's hard work. The iconic hitmaker praised Big Zulu on his efforts to rejuvenate South African hip-hop.
K.O tweeted to share a post sharing appreciation that Big Zulu made hip hop exciting again by bringing back rap's diss track culture
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Source: Briefly News
