Nasty C (ZA)

About

Also known as: Nsikayesizwe David Junior Ngcobo, Nsikayesizwe David Ngcobo

Durban raised rapper Nasty C, born Nsikayesizwe David Junior Ngcobo, has been one of South Africa's most consistently compelling voices in hip hop since his mid 2010s breakthrough. His 2016 debut album Bad Hair hit number one on the iTunes local charts and was the most streamed album in South Africa within its first 24 hours, a pretty remarkable feat for a debut. The album's cover art was crowd sourced from fans who emailed him portraits of their own bad hair moments, which he assembled into a composite of his face. From there he kept building: Strings and Bling in 2018 came backed by deals with Universal Music Group and his own label Tall Racks Records, and his third album Zulu Man with Some Power arrived in 2020 as his first release under a joint venture with Def Jam Records. The Def Jam deal helped push him to a genuinely global audience, with the single There They Go earning recognition well beyond South Africa. He has also collaborated with names like A$AP Ferg, French Montana, Davido and Cassper Nyovest along the way.