K.O: I spent a lot of time trying to pull myself out of a dark space

Hip-hop superstar K.O has opened up about his depression and dramatic weight loss, explaining that his struggles in the industry nearly defeated him and his career.

K.O told Metro FM's Thomas Msengana that he fell into a dark space after the collapse of his company Cashtime and pressure to change his sound. He said that the pressure around him got so much that he ended up scrapping much of his second album and starting again.

"All that pressure and all those kind of things kinda put me in a dark place. I spent a lot of time trying to pull myself out of that, extract myself from that whole situation. That is what I have been doing since 2017."

He said that he faced questions over whether he was "done" as an artist and had to fight to keep his career afloat.

The rapper recently opened up about his battle with depression on Instagram, saying it started to get bad after the collapse of his company Cashtime.

"Nothing ever works out if your heart is not in a happy space.. I made a conscious decision to choose happiness."

It is not the first time that K.O has had a hard time after being dragged to the court of public opinion. Several years ago his HIV status was questioned after he dropped weight.

Speaking to Thomas, K.O said that he was chubby before going solo because he was full of "beer and other things", but decided that he wanted to make a change to his lifestyle and that the weight loss was solely because of this decision.