K.O on 'Phara City': 'It's my most conceptual album'

K.O has described his latest release, “Phara City”, as his most conceptual album to date. The seasoned rapper, who has spent over a decade shaping South Africa’s hip-hop landscape, sees this project as more than a collection of songs. 

For the award-winning rapper, “Phara City” is a mirror held up to the South African nation, reflecting its current realities and contradictions.

Released in June 2025, “Phara City” marks K.O’s fifth solo album. The album was two years in the making, a process he says demanded patience and self-reflection.

Speaking to “Independent Media Lifestyle” at the launch event, which took place on June 13, K.O shared that he initially planned to release the project a year earlier but felt it needed more depth and purpose.

“I was kind of ready to put it out last year. I announced the release date and everything, but it’s almost like lightning struck me and I decided to switch it up and go in a different direction,” he said.

That new direction was rooted in storytelling. In an interview with YFM’s Nia Brown and Okay Wasabi, the rapper revealed that “Phara City” was built around a central theme, positioning him as both a narrator and observer of society.

“I think this one is probably the most conceptual album that I’ve ever done because I went into it with a whole theme where I play a commentator or narrator on what’s going on in our society today in real time,” he explained.

The title “Phara City” draws from the word “phara”, often used to describe hustlers all over the streets of Mzansi. Their hustle often includes asking for money to feed their addictions and sometimes taking what doesn’t belong to them.

K.O expands the term beyond the streets, using it to explore behaviour across social classes and systems. Through this lens, he questions how ambition, survival and power manifest in both informal and formal settings. 

At the launch event, the crowd experienced that concept first-hand when K.O opened with the album’s intro song, a soulful and gospel-inspired piece that set a reflective tone. 

The project unfolds as a layered narrative, bringing together themes of uncertainty, inequality, as well as resilience.

“The reason I went with this direction is because I pull from my environment and from the status quo.

"The country is discombobulated, facing chaos politically, socially and socio-economically. So I just felt like, maybe, how about I just put the mirror at the faces of my fellow South Africans through music, the best way that I know how,” he said. 

The album consists of collaborations with Cassper Nyovest, Young Stunna, 25K and emerging artist Naledi Aphiwe, which elevate the storytelling.

Even the album cover art captures the message K.O wanted to convey. It shows him dressed in a sleek black suit, pulling a cart filled with recyclables, an image that reflects how hardship and ambition often coexist. 

The rapper continues to stay relevant in a constantly changing industry; he credited his longevity to adaptability and connection. 

“Your availability is your currency,” he said. “By availing yourself and interacting with other people, you’ll most likely have opportunities come your way, and you’ll also learn from others and go back to your own drawing board and recalibrate."