The post YoungstaCPT Reflects On How Relocating To Hillbrow Launched His Music Career appeared first on SA Hip Hop Mag.
YoungstaCPT Reflects On How Relocating To Hillbrow Launched His Music Career. Long before awards, sold-out shows, and cultural acclaim, YoungstaCPT found himself staring down a hard truth. If he wanted to make it in South African hip hop, comfort had to be sacrificed.
In a recent discussion on the NIVEA Men Recharge Podcast, the Cape Town lyricist, born Riyadh Roberts, revisited one of the most defining and risky chapters of his journey. Asked about the most questionable move he ever made in pursuit of success, his answer was immediate and unfiltered. He had to leave home.
Relocating from Cape Town to Johannesburg was not a calculated luxury move. It was survival. “I had to relocate to Johannesburg,” he explained. “I wasn’t given the best accommodation, but I was given a roof. That roof was in Hillbrow.”
For many, Hillbrow represents chaos. Tower blocks pressed together, stories of crime whispered on every corner, and an atmosphere that tests your instincts daily. It was not where dreams traditionally go to feel safe. But for YoungstaCPT, it was where dreams were forced to get serious.
The choice, he said, was simple and brutal. Either he moved to Hillbrow, or he stayed stagnant. Waiting on industry connections to come through had only slowed his momentum. Each delay made the goal feel further away. So he stopped waiting.
“I packed up my panties and brought myself to Hillbrow,” he said, flipping a familiar phrase with humour that only sharpened the point. It was the moment he chose independence over excuses.
The reality was intense. Hillbrow was wild, unpredictable, and unforgiving. Yet something clicked once he arrived. The environment, harsh as it was, made sense. It gave new meaning to a word often thrown around casually in music circles. “That’s when I got to appreciate the term hustle,” he reflected.
That period in Johannesburg during the mid-2010s saw YoungstaCPT immersing himself in the city’s hip hop ecosystem. He battled, networked, observed, and absorbed lessons that no studio session could teach. The grind sharpened his worldview and deepened the authenticity that would later define his music.
Known for blending Cape Malay heritage, Kaaps slang, and unfiltered social commentary, YoungstaCPT would go on to release acclaimed bodies of work, including Take Away and the award-winning 3T (Things Take Time). The latter cemented his status, earning Album of the Year at the South African Hip Hop Awards in 2019.
But the foundation of that success was laid far from comfort. Hillbrow, often reduced to headlines and stereotypes, became an unlikely classroom. It taught resilience, urgency, and the courage to make uncomfortable moves when the dream demands it.
Today, YoungstaCPT stands as one of the country’s most respected hip hop voices, deeply rooted in Kaapstad yet shaped by the streets that tested him. His story is a reminder that behind every breakthrough lies a chapter of risk, sacrifice, and faith in oneself.
That Hillbrow roof was never about luxury. It was about survival. And for YoungstaCPT, it was just enough shelter to transform hunger into momentum and struggle into legacy.
The post YoungstaCPT Reflects On How Relocating To Hillbrow Launched His Music Career appeared first on SA Hip Hop Mag.
The post YoungstaCPT Reflects On How Relocating To Hillbrow Launched His Music Career appeared first on SA Hip Hop Mag.
YoungstaCPT Reflects On How Relocating To Hillbrow Launched His Music Career. Long before awards, sold-out shows, and cultural acclaim, YoungstaCPT found himself staring down a hard truth. If he wanted to make it in South African hip hop, comfort had to be sacrificed. YoungstaCPT Reflects On How Relocating To Hillbrow Launched His Music Career In …
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