Rashid Kay Blames SA Hip Hop For K.O’s Struggle To Run Skhanda World Record Label
Rashid Kay Blames SA Hip Hop For K.O’s Struggle To Run Skhanda World Record Label. Running a record label as an artist brings many benefits and challenges, though it’s usually the challenges that steal the spotlight when things go awry. K.O has experienced both ends of this spectrum firsthand.
The 43-year-old rapper has identified and nurtured incredible talents, turning them into South African Hip Hop sensations. Yet, his struggles in maintaining the stability of labels like Skhanda World and CashTime have faced intense scrutiny.
During a recent episode of the Culture Chopps segment on the Choppin’ It With Budha T Podcast, veteran rapper and media personality Rashid Kay expressed that K.O’s endeavor didn’t falter solely due to his efforts. Instead, he attributed the shortcomings of K.O’s Skhanda World record label to the broader landscape of the South African Hip Hop industry. This comes after the recent departures of Roiii and Loki who were the only artists left on the label’s roaster.
“K.O didn’t fail, he was failed by SA Hip Hop, what’s happening now it’s not unique to Skhanda World. Name one SA Hip Hop label that kicking as* right now or that’s functioning properly?” Rashid said. “So this is not unique, it’s the reflection of the state of the culture. It’s not happening anywhere, hip hop labels have shut down.”
Rashid Kay added that SA Hip hop failed K.O because no one has been supporting the music by the artists under his record label. “He was failed by SA Hip Hop, they’re not buying and streaming these kids or whatever he’s putting out,” he added.
Following the departures of Roiii and Loki, K.O came out and stated that the investment he made with the artists wasn’t bringing the anticipated returns, hence Skhada World had to part ways with the artists.
“It wasn’t necessarily a thing of like we just woke up and said ‘we need this person and we dont need that other person.’ I think it was just more so, what people need to understand, Skhanda World is in a joint venture with Universal (UMG). So when you have another conglomerate that is also invested in the business, the decisions are no longer just solely for us as Skhanda.” K.O said.
“There’s a cooperation that says hey so what are the returns you know to your investment and all those kinds of things and we need to answer to those things because Universal rightfully so as an additional partner came in and invested a lot in us making sure that the label becomes what it was supposed to.” He added.
