South African rapper Nasty C joins Ebro Darden in-studio on Apple Music 1 to discuss his new album ‘I Love It Here’, exploring emotions through music, the state of South African hip-hop following the death of AKA, parenthood, wanting to change his stage name, and more.
Nasty C on How His New Son Influenced His New Album…
I think it added to what I was already kind of going through in my mind, just growing up. I don’t know, just being a bit more honest with what I like, what I don’t like, whether it’s in my music or just with the people that I meet, just being a lot more honest with myself and other people. I think now having a son has just made that even more of a priority. Now I’m setting an example for him and I have to do my best to make sure that I’m a good father.
Nasty C on His Relationship with His Father and His Evolving Perspective…
I used to speak about it a lot in my mixtape days, but back then it was just mostly resentment for him. You know what I mean? Towards him. But now it’s like being older, obviously I’ve gotten over a lot of the things that I had against him, so now it’s like I appreciate him, I understand where he was coming from. I understand the kind of background that he came from and him trying to make sure that we don’t go through the same thing, but at the same time, there’s a bit of a disagreement in the methods that he used and stuff like that. So I’m a lot more understanding. So I speak about these things and I make sure that I speak about how much I appreciate him and his hard efforts.
Nasty C on Being Hesitant to Commit to Therapy…
I’m supposed to, but every time we work on that, me going to therapy and stuff like that, I always bail or it just ends up not happening. Most times it’s not my fault. Sometimes though, I just bail. I get to a point where I’m just like, I’m too scared to do it, and I kind of just punk out or I say, “I’m fine.” I’m like, “I’m good now. I don’t have to.”
Nasty C Says He Still Hasn’t Reached His Full Potential As an Artist…
Best I’ve ever been for sure, but I haven’t reached my full potential yet. Nowhere close. I have a long way to go. A lot of the artists that I look up to are incredible at what they do, and I want to be that good or better. I don’t think I’m there yet.
Nasty C on the State of the South African Hip-Hop Community Following the Death of AKA…
I think it’s still fresh in our minds. Just the fact that he’s gone and the way that he lived. So hip hop is not in its best state right now. But as far as the creativity and how good the guys are at making music just period, and the type of albums that are coming out from the new hip hop guys, I think it’s in a very, very good place sonically. But as far as us getting together and doing our own shows and just getting together a bit more, man and really pushing the movement, I think we’re slowly getting back into gear. We’re not there yet though, but it’s getting there.
Nasty C on the Origin of His Stage Name…
It’s a weird story, man. So I started rapping when I was nine years old, right? And there was a guy that used to record me, he was very close with my big brother. He was kind of like a big brother to me in a way. One of the days when I was there recording before I started recording, actually I was there and he had a session to finish up before he started with mine. He was just talking to his other friend. He was like, “Yo, that’s a nasty cat right there.” My name was Man Jay at the time, and it was a lot of Man Z, Man K, Man this, Man that. I wanted a unique name. So when he called me that, I just kind of took it.
Nasty C Says He Plans To Change His Name to Ivyson When The Time Is Right…
I would, yeah, but I feel like I have to reach a certain level in my career first before I could change that. Yeah, and just be like Ivyson. That’s it. Yeah, I have it lined up already. I’m just waiting for the right moment. You know? I think I have to make it in the world first, globally. Everyone has to recognize me and then I could change it.
