Krept — British rapper from Krept & Konan, entrepreneur, and founder of baby skincare brand Nala's Baby
The gist
Krept tells Steven Bartlett how growing up around gangs and violence in Croydon shaped his determination to escape that life through music. He recounts the pivotal moment after his bandmate Conan's stepfather was murdered when the group chose music over retaliation, leading to their breakthrough. He opens up about profound grief: the suicide of his best friend Nash days before launching Creps and Cones, and the death of his cousin, the rapper Cadet (Blaine), in a car crash. The conversation turns to money, hip-hop culture's pressure to flaunt wealth, and lessons in business. Finally he details building Nala's Baby, a zero-rated natural baby skincare line valued at £17.5 million that sold out within weeks of launching in Boots.
Big reveals
- Conan's stepfather was killed and his mother shot by attackers who came to kill Conan at his home.
- Sitting in a car after the attack, the group chose to take music seriously rather than retaliate, a turning point that changed everything.
- Krept's best friend Nash, who was set to run Creps and Cones, jumped in front of a train days before the restaurant's launch.
- They launched Creps and Cones while grieving, with the Mayor of Croydon cutting the ribbon and Krept secretly cleaning toilets and working the floor.
- Nala's Baby is valued at £17.5 million based on Boots orders and investment.
- Hundreds of thousands of bottles meant to last three months sold out in a week and a half.
- Krept's cousin Cadet died in a car crash caused by a drunk driver, weeks after Krept's uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
- Krept was attacked and stabbed backstage in Birmingham; paramedics said a millimeter deeper would have hit his artery.
Things worth remembering
- Krept & Konan's viral cover Otis was made right after one of the worst periods of their lives.
- Skepta brought them on a sold-out tour as paid support even though he didn't need them there.
- Their independent mixtape Young Kings set a Guinness World Record as the highest-charting independent album, before streaming existed.
- Don't Waste My Time ended up as Adonis Creed's entrance song in the movie Creed.
- They turned a standard 6-episode Apple radio show into around 36 episodes by overdelivering with guests and games.
- Nala's Baby took two years to develop, starting before Krept's daughter Nala was born.
- The brand was inspired by the Think Dirty app, which rates product ingredients from 0 (cleanest) to 10 (worst).
- Builders going missing and middlemen skimming meant Creps and Cones cost roughly triple what it should have.
- The last thing Cadet said to Krept was that he loved him and had bought him Gucci socks for his birthday.
- Krept admits he has never done therapy because he is scared sitting still would force him to confront his grief.
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Nala's Baby
Krept
“you would never put a rapper launching a baby skincare line in the same sentence. Like it's just it doesn't make sense.” — Krept 01:03:12Find it on Amazon
Creps and Cones
Krept
“this is when you launched Creps and Cones. Yes. So before launching Creps and Cones, Nash was the person that was going to run it” — Krept 00:19:59Find it on Amazon
Young Kings
Krept & Konan
“the next big moment that we had was when we released our project called Young Kings. It was like a independent mixtape that we done.” — Krept 00:40:27Find it on Amazon
Don't Waste My Time
Krept & Konan
“we made Don't Waste My Time. And when we made Don't Waste My Time, it was like it was purposely made to be like, yeah, we don't care what anyone has to say.” — Krept 00:42:29Find it on Amazon
Otis
Krept & Konan
“we done Otis which was like a cover of Jay-Z and Kanye's song. And that song went viral.” — Krept 00:11:32Find it on Amazon