Award-winning podcaster Mpoomy Ledwaba sat down with popular rapper Cassper Nyovest on her “Wisdom & Wellness” podcast.
The hour-and-a-half-long conversation sent viewers on an emotional roller-coaster.
The “Solomon” album-maker wore his heart on his sleeve as he spoke about starting out as a young man in the industry to his “Fill-Up” success and performing at the Global Citizen Festival, right before the legendary Beyoncé.
Later, he discussed how he developed an ego, which ultimately led to him being depressed, empty and with a sex addiction, to then finally being “saved”.
“It took eight years before I got my big break. I would play my music but people don’t hear it. It was like eight years of that, losing record deals, signing recorded deals, nothing happened.
“I was at a stable called Impact Sounds. I did something wrong, I got chased out the label. Then I tried to sign to Sony and then I did something wrong, I got chased again. HHP risked and took me under his wing with strict rules.”
He went on to divulge how much HHP did for him.
“People give props to me, but the way that man (HHP) played this game is genius. There are so many mistakes that I made that he covered. I was arrested and people never talked about.
“There was a time where I made everyone in the game mad at me. They wanted to beat me up, but he’s the one who came up and told them, ‘Yo, we are adults. That boy is a young boy, let’s figure it out’.”
Speaking about what led him on his current spiritual journey Nyovest said: “I was going through the hardest time of my life. I woke up one day, I looked in the mirror and I had questions I couldn’t answer. It was three simple questions: Who are you? Where do you come from? and Where are you going?
“My whole life became a blur. I didn’t enjoy anything, I didn’t care about anything. I remember I was going to perform in Durban and I said that if I see my son I’d feel better, but when he ran up to me, I felt nothing. Nothing!”
He felt that he might be depressed.
“I would struggle to sleep, I’d sleep for an hour or two. I went to hospital and they diagnosed me with depression. They gave me a pill, made me feel better only for a few hours. Then I went to therapy, and it made me feel a little better until I was alone again.”
He finally decided to go to church and said the answers he got there were “boring and blunt”, but it was what he needed to hear.
“I asked what is my purpose, and someone told me that we were created solely to worship God. We were talking about salvation and the soul, and it hit me that this is what’s missing.
“I’ve being playing with my life and the devil had me. He had me so deep that I did not think about this at all.
“Everything up to that point could be validated. I was addicted to sex. Addicted to sexual immorality in general. I had such a big ego, I thought I was better than everyone else but humble enough not to offend anyone.
“I was headed straight for hell if I didn’t have that wake-up.
“I had an encounter with God. He put me in a place where only he could save me,” said Nyovest.
Watch full interview below: