Mr Cashtime

Ntokozo Mdluli aka K.O's debut album Skhanda Republic blew past the expectations of his naysayers after it was met with critical acclaim and garnered commercial success, yet he still remains an underdog in the rap game.

The album yielded countless radio-friendly singles including Skhanda Love, featuring songbird Nandi Mngoma, but despite being eligible for consideration the song was nowhere to be found when the 2016 Metro FM Music Awards nomination list was released.

However, the Piet Retief-bred MC insists that he has come to terms with it all.

"There are people who rely on controversy and extra things to make themselves relevant in the market, it's not entirely just about the music. But for me I'm not trying to be the talk of town, I want my music to do all that stuff. I'm a very private person, I'm an introvert, I don't like people to know that much about my life. I want my music to take centre stage," K.O expresses.

"All the energy, all the frustrations and the stress that comes with it makes me put out better music... We have solidified our business model so well that I'm seeing the type of income that I've never seen in all my life, that I never even thought existed in this music business. I will tell you this, and this is not me trying to boast, I've probably seen more money than a lot of these guys."

In mid-March K.O will fly the South African flag high in the American state of Texas, where he is scheduled to perform at the world-renowned annual film, interactive media, and music festival South by Southwest (SXSW).

K.O says that he starts working on his set in a week's time.

"I think for me it's just part of my journey, these are all boxes that I wanted to tick in my journey as I'm forging on in chasing my dreams, my destiny and everything else," K.O asserts.

"Being able to go out there and represent my country is quite a huge honour and a great opportunity for me to make sure that we are heard not only as K.O, but as South African music. I want to go out there and make sure that I excel."

In 2014 K.O topped the inaugural MTV Base's Hottest MC list. In 2015, the rapper dropped to #3, behind #2 AKA and #1 Cassper Nyovest. K.O describes his drop as 'fair' considering the kind of year he had.

However, he does argue that he feels that AKA should have topped the polarizing list last year instead of Cassper.

"I think it was fair. But maybe the only thing that I would have changed from there, and this is not me trying to sound bitter or take anything away from anyone, I think number one especially towards the end of the year last year Cassper got to become the person that he became because of the Fill Up The Dome situation, which was incredible. But just based on the music, I think AKA should have been #1, because you saw what Baddest did and Composure did. Again this is not me trying to discredit Cassper from this great milestone," K.0 maintains.

Asked about what's his opinion of his fellow hip hop counterparts, theDing Dong hit-maker replies:

"Everyone is doing great. I'm really impressed with what Kwesta is doing right now, the new song [Ngud] he has going on with Cassper. He's going to have a great year. I want to see what Riky [Rick] has coming up this year. I was really hoping that last year was going to be OkMalumKoolKat's year, I'm not too sure what happened there. I'm Also rooting for Nasty C, who I think can rap circles around 95% of all these rappers that are currently active in the industry right now. Obviously, Emtee doing great as well."

In 2013, K.O opted to live a healthier lifestyle and decided to hit the gym. K.O cites that he had also been off alcohol for some years, so he lost a ton of weight. As a result, a vicious rumour started that he had the HIV virus.

K.O states that he has since gained some of the weight back. He acknowledges that when you juxtapose photos pre- and post-Caracara era he did overdo it at the gym.

"For me that was one of the pillars to my success... That whole situation started shortly after Caracara came out. There are a lot of people who will not applaud every great move you make. So it was their way of maybe trying to slow me down," K.O says.

K.O, who was then romantically linked to model Sarah Langa Heaton, explains that he chose to do the public HIV test because his partner at the time and family were being hounded on social media. He adds that the publicity that came with the public HIV test impacted his career at the time.

"My partner was being told that she is dying, just because 'I'm dying'. She was not a rapper, she is not in the music business. But now just because of her association with me and now she has to endure ignorance like that. My parents were also being hit hard. So I decided let me kill this thing and boom I did the public test," K.O points out.

"As tough as that whole situation was, as hurtful as it was, it also helped my rise. Shortly after I did the public test situation, two weeks later Caracara went to top of the charts."

K.O proclaims that at the moment he is 'happily single' and the focus is on his music, although he is open to settling down and having kids in the future

"I am [pause] happily single. Right now I'm just chasing my dream. I had a relationship and that ended early last year. For me I'm happy that I can focus again on what matters, which is my music. But relationships are wonderful and significant," K.O declares.

"I don't have kids. I don't have a wife. But I'm very family-oriented. I live with Ma-E and my little brother. As a family man, the only family I have are my brothers, mom, dad and nephews. All my brothers have kids, except for me, so I treat them as my kids."

@MrCashtime