Yahoo Finance ‘I’ve sold out the O2 – but my £17m baby skincare range made me rich’
Krept, also known as Casyo Johnson, is a renowned grime artist and rapper and one half of the award-winning duo Krept and Konan, as well as co-host of BBC TV show The Rap Game.
With his former partner, model Sasha Ellese, he created Nala’s Baby, a skincare range for young children. Krept, 34, lives just outside London.
How did your upbringing influence your attitude to money?
I grew up in Gipsy Hill, south-east London – there was a lot of violence in the area and my brother and I didn’t have the greatest start. My mum had split from my dad who was in prison for five years for drugs. She did her best but the need to make money was embedded in me from when I was a kid.
What was your first paid job?
It was delivering leaflets for my local Indian takeaway. They knew me because I’d go there to eat. I actually asked them for the job and they said yes. I was paid about £2.50 per hour. It was 2005 and I was about 14 or 15.
Where does your rapper name Krept come from?
When I was a kid, I used to be called Kreps after the trainers and that eventually became Krept.
How did you make it as a rapper?
I used to do music as a hobby and started writing lyrics at my youth club. Konan, who at that time was a really good MC, thought they were good so we made some songs which we shared via Infrared, which is how people used to send music before Bluetooth.
We grew in popularity and this led to [the late] Jamal Edwards letting us play on his YouTube channel SBTV: Music. It built slowly, then we released our independent mixtape Young Kingz in 2013, which took off. The real game-changer was our song Don’t Waste My Time.
We went from Konan being homeless to releasing that song independently and it being used in the movie Creed (2015). We signed a record deal, won awards, got bookings and started seeing money from shows and festivals. In 2019, we filled the O2 Arena.
Then you had success with Nala’s Baby. How did that happen?
I’ve always wanted to branch out and not just do music. I’m really keen on different streams of income. I also want to create a life for my daughter that I wasn’t able to have. I don’t want her to go through the sort of things that we did as kids.
Sasha was pregnant and concerned about what she was putting on her skin but when she checked products on the app Think Dirty (which explains ingredients), the only ones with no chemicals and totally pure were over £30 per bottle. None of the others were “clean”. So we decided to make one that was affordable.
I knew that we had to find the right people who could do this professionally, so I contacted someone I knew who worked in retail, who introduced us to a manufacturer that specialised in skin and haircare. We met and told them exactly what we wanted: hair and skin product for babies that was zero rated and ticked all the boxes.
How hard was it to do this, having no experience in this area?
Developing the products took a year and a half. Every day during lockdown, I researched every single ingredient. If it wasn’t for being shut up at home, I would never have had the time and probably would never have done it.
Combining something that is paediatrician and dermatologist-approved, as well as being affordable, into a bottle, is quite difficult. We needed a minimum order quantity, so we pitched it to Boots who loved it.
Suddenly, Nala’s Baby became much bigger than our original idea. It sold really fast and we were short of stock for a while. But these are good problems to have.
Did being famous help you get investment?
Being famous had pros and cons. It meant I had a platform and some sort of traction. A lot of my angel investors came through my music network [Anthony Joshua and Jourdan Dunn are some of the most famous investors].
However, when you’re a rapper coming into baby skincare products, people kind of look at you sideways and wonder, “How can I trust you to do this?”
I had so much to prove but I’ve always said if someone just buys it once, they will come back.
Which career has had the biggest financial impact, being a successful rapper or co-creator of Nala’s Baby?
Financially, the numbers projected for Nala’s Baby are much bigger than my music work and bear in mind, you can earn a lot of money in music. But in terms of business, scaling and becoming a national brand, Nala’s Baby will really be something.
Since launching in June 2022, we have sold over a million products. Year on year sales have increased by 55pc and this financial year they are predicted to grow a further 100pc. Last year, the business was valued at £17m.
Property or pension?
Both. I have a buy-to-let in Liverpool which is a bit stressful when things go wrong – if the shower needs fixing, or a tenant isn’t happy with something. I’m a really good landlord and if they went through any inconvenience I make it up to them, because I’ve been in that situation.
Now, I have a management company to look after it which works for me. I’m in the middle of refinancing the buy-to-let to buy again.
I’m also setting up a pension for myself and one for my daughter. I can save between £2,000 and £3,000 a year, for several years, so by the time she retires, she should have a £1m pension. It’s just as good as putting it into a property.
Has having a daughter changed your attitude to money?
Definitely. I think about my spending more in terms of what I can invest in or what can have a positive impact at a later date.
I’ve taken out life insurance [Krept was stabbed after a Birmingham concert in 2019] so that it automatically pays my mortgage and the house goes to my daughter. I’ve also set up a trust for her and I’ve made sure that if I’m not here, she is okay.
Are you a saver or spender?
Saver. Definitely. Every one of my friends say I’m tight – which must mean I’m a saver.
What do you like to splurge on?
I spend money on comfort. When it comes to travelling, I don’t mind hiring a driver and Mercedes Benz Viano with a recliner so I can lie down.
Sometimes I will get a business class flight over economy. And I don’t mind spending money on a watch that I love that won’t depreciate, like a Audemars Piguet.
I travel a lot for work and don’t get to enjoy visiting different countries as much as I’d like, so I try to have at least one work-free getaway a year.
Does money make you happy?
It’s not the root of my happiness, but it definitely helps. And I get a lot of joy from helping friends and family, I really do. Money doesn’t change the reality of everyday life or the state of your health or relationships, but it definitely helps rule out problems.
Nala’s Baby is available in most major supermarkets.
