Our Story

1020 Cartel is a MOVEMENT. We are a record label, music agency and music publisher with the key objective of investing in music and the arts, with a strong emphasis on quality, excellence and authenticity to culture.

Created in 2019 as the brainchild of Sjava and  Ruff, the name 1020 pays homage to flat number 1020 Tali’s Place where the guys lived and created music together with the other members of the African Trap Movement as far back as 2013. 

Sjava and Ruff developed the vision of creating authentic, world-class and genre-bending music that celebrates the roots that have birthed today’s popular culture and music.

In 2020 Nothando joined the guys to bring in the business and strategy competencies to what has grown into the 1020 group of companies. In 2020, 1020 signed Anzo, Mzukulu, Nue_Sam and Yallunder who featured in the collab album iSambulo, and so started the musical journey of 1020 Cartel.

In the short space of four years, 1020 Cartel has released nine music projects and we’re looking forward to many more years of INSPIRING & MOTIVATING.