There is no precedent for a local rapper quite like K.O. Since the genre first started to take off in SA about three decades ago, no one has managed to be as relevant for as long as he has.
Nor has anyone reinvented themselves as consistently as he has and no one has been this good at his age (he’s 42!).
Despite a long history of successful reinvention, K.O’s latest magic trick is perhaps his most impressive.
After a sketchy 2021, the Skhandaworld rapper came through with an afrobeats-leaning record (“Sete”) that’s become one of the biggest local songs ever in less than a year.
Never one to rest on his laurels, he’s leveraged that single with a strong remix, a really good follow-up album and, now, a new single from that very album.
“Officially out now,” shared K.O on Friday morning. “ROCKABYE BABY. Off the album SR3. Video soon come…”
“Toss”, “K.O” and “Cashtime” have been trending since a snippet K.O shared on social media started to go viral on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, Toss joined Ms.Cosmo on The PopCast podcast to speak on his blow up over the past year and a half, and share some interesting stories on his journey so far.
At one point after Ms.Cosmo asked which of his collaborations have forced him to be the most creative so far, Toss responded by speaking about “Rockabye Baby”: “It’s a recent one I did with K.O. I did a song with K.O and I had to rap.”
When Cosmo asked if he was scared, he responded: “I was.”
K.O, who recently returned from a tour of the UK, has also been enjoying musical success with his Skhandaworld collective.
A few weeks ago, K.O teamed up with Aymos, Loki and Roiii for a new single titled “Isitha”.