One half of UK rap duo Krept & Konan said that building a business has taken some of the “pressure” off his music career, as he warned that money can “go as quickly as it comes” for artists.
Krept, whose real name is Casyo Johnson, said his brand Nala’s Baby was last valued at £17.5 million and has grown rapidly since launching two years ago.
The musician and entrepreneur created the business with co-parent Sasha Ellese, selling skincare and haircare products for children and babies in retailers including Boots, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
The brand was inspired by their now four-year-old daughter Nala, and a desire as parents to find baby products that contain natural ingredients.
Thinking about his pivot from rap to the world of business, Krept said there is not much education for young rappers and musicians who suddenly gain success and money.
“There are so many examples of artists that come, they have everything, and then they don’t have anything,” Krept told the PA news agency.
“You’ve not really had time to learn to manage your money. It can go as quickly as it comes.
“I think it’s good to set examples for them to see that when you get money, invest it or do other things with it… if you want to maintain what you’re doing.”
“How old am I going to be continuing to rap? I don’t want the pressure of music,” the 34-year-old added.
“I would rather build things that I can work on, there’s no pressure on the music side of it, I can do music freely how and when I want.”
Krept’s remarks come as he was announced as an ambassador for Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition, which is hunting for business ideas from 16 to 25-year-olds in the UK.
The winners will gain access to industry experts to help take their ideas forward, with applications closing on January 12.
Krept said he leaned heavily on the help and support of friends and contacts in creating his own business, and was introduced to a manufacturer specialising in skincare early on in the development.
He told PA that networking was his “number one” piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, adding that it had been “crucial” to the development of Nala’s Baby.
“I had to do presentations to friends even though I’d known them for years… I was doing back-to-back presentations for weeks, pitching the business idea to loads of people,” he told PA.
“I was able to raise that investment from my network of different people.”
Nala’s Baby counts sportsmen Anthony Joshua and Marcus Rashford, and model Jourdan Dunn, among its high-profile investors.
Krept, who is set to release a new album with Konan in 2025, said Nala’s Baby is set to quadruple its first-year sales in the latest financial year.
