The internet got talking some weeks ago following the announcement of KidX’s exit from Cashtime Life. I wanted to write about this so bad on the blog but I couldn’t because we we’re going through a site upgrade at the time.
Social media had its own reasons on why they think he left the label including talks of a possible fall-out with KO. During a recent interview with Silkour, the South African rapper finally revealed the reasons he left the house KO and Ma-E built.
The main and important reason was I felt like I needed to grow. I felt like at Cashtime, because of the way the label is structured I’d pretty much done anything, or everything that I could possibly do
He also said he “was not really on the same page” creatively with the label using his mixtape as a reference.
The mixtape initially when I gave it to the label, we were still in demo form. This is a demo that I was riding around with in the car, to obviously just finish off the project and to see what I could enhance, what I could add to sort of give it value. The label had been, obviously hitting me up about wanting to hear what I’ve been working on and I made it clear that yo, I’m still working. Obviously everything that I’ve got is still in demo form, but I mean you guys are obviously the label, you guys should be able to hear this product and imagine that… like I’m not saying this is what we’re gonna take to the mix and mastering desk, this is something that we’re gonna re-record, and so forth’.
He said the project was originally his album but it got turned down by the label when he presented it. You can watch the full interview below. (Audio quality is poor so you may need to turn it all the way up)
KO already addressed the situation in a statement saying he wishes Kid X “all the best on his journey as an artist.” He also explained reasons behind the delays of Kid X, Maggz and Nomuzi’s albums.
Read an excerpt from his statement below.
My album, Skhanda Republic, was released in 2014 and was essentially the sole marketing tool at our disposal at the time. Kid X, Maggz and Ma-E were set to be the next ones to go off and shut down 2015 but none of their albums were ready by July of that year. After recording DJ Vigi’s Pasop, the office decided to create an album called the Cashtime Life All Stars. But recording it took so long, I was afraid we’d miss the festive season deadline so we canned the project.I understood how this demotivated the artists and fully expressed my apologies to them. My responsibility and personal mission became: to push them to finish their solo singles – which was always the first priority – and their albums. So Kid X released his mixtape last year and Ma-E dropped his album early this year. Unfortunately, both offerings didn’t spawn big singles and the misperception became that they weren’t supported enough. Cashtime Life supported both the mixtape and the album financially, shot videos and put together Ma-E’s album launch tour.
When Moozlie left this year, we – like their fans – were still waiting for Maggz and Kid X to present their albums. They still were not ready. I’ll be the first to admit my leadership in Cashtime Life is not perfect – especially owing to my schedule for the past year-and-a-half – but these are my friends. So it hurts that none of them stand up for me and tell the truth that the delay of their albums dropping has nothing to do with me and everything to do with their own pace.