Yung Nasa is ready for takeoff

YOU’D be hard-pressed to find a local independent rap label more productive than NeverBroke right now.

When the label is not rolling out the talented J Molley’s music or collaborating with him on his parties, they’re releasing stunning visuals and music for the likes of newcomers KashCPT and Yung Nasa.

The latter, last week, released his new project, Not Cool Never Was.

The project’s lead single, a mix of new aged rock and hip-hop titled Know My Name featuring label-mate J Molley, has been particularly popular on streaming platforms since release.

“Know My Name was such a fun song to work on, and I was so excited when J jumped on,” he says.

“I recorded last October, and J put his verse on around December/January. J is honestly a brother to me, such an inspiration to be around.”

Yung Nasa met J Molley and the NeverBroke crew at a party in Cape Town they were hosting four years ago. After forming a friendship with the team, he became a part of the stable just over a year ago now. They started working on the project around the same time.

“To get to work every day with people who inspire you is truly a blessing. Many late nights, but I truly believe in this body of work. I worked closely with my whole team: Nav, Kashcpt, J Molley, Baker and I have a feature from an insane artist named Hugo Pooe.”

I asked him how the idea to fuse rock and hip hop in this project came about and whether this is generally going to be his musical approach going forward.

“I’ve always loved rock music, and it plays a vital role in my life as I grew and developed into the person I am today. The hip-hop comes in from my first inspiration in music, which funny enough all stems from J himself.”

In the few weeks that it’s been out, Know My Name is already the biggest song Yung Nasa has released to date.

He attributes its success to people enjoying the more vulnerable and honest music from him and J Molley’s fan base embracing him.

“Not Cool Never Was is just a story of my life and not only embracing but being proud of who I truly am. You don’t have to be the most popular to have a voice these days.”

What else can we expect from him going forward?

“You can expect a lot more content coming from us. You’ll see us overseas soon. This is only the beginning for us.”