Katlego Sekhu

US musician and producer Sway Lee stirred controversy when he took to Twitter to express his interest in exploring Amapiano music. In a tweet accompanied by the Nigerian flag, Sway Lee seemingly implied that the popular house sub-genre originated in Nigeria, causing a stir among his millions of fans.
However, as South Africans, we are well aware that this assertion is incorrect. Amapiano music was born and developed on South African soil and has emerged as our most successful musical export to date, creating numerous young millionaires in its relatively short existence.
Wait till y’all hear Swae Lee on Amapiano 🇳🇬
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 11, 2023
I never discredited nobody sorry y’all read it that way I never said anything about it’s origins in that tweet I was just letting my fans know I’m tapped in and been cooking some amapiano style songs salute to the history of amapiano and the first creators of it I’m not taking…
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 12, 2023
The discussion around whether South Africans are acting as gatekeepers of the genre revolves around the notion of whether they are overly concerned with its origins rather than allowing it to thrive on a global scale. This debate was joined by Sizwe Dhlomo and his team as listeners weighed in on the topic.
Kabza De Small explains how Amapiano came about
In 2021, a video of Kabza De Small chatting with music legend Oskido about how the Amapiano genre came about made the rounds on social media. In the clip, the award-winning producer narrates the story of how the genre started in the townships.
“Amapiano started in the townships. A track will be 125 BPM, but you will find the deejays playing it at 115, he told Oskido. “You’ll get the mixtapes and find yourself enjoying the slow tempo. Once you slow down the tempo, the bass becomes 45, and producers end up producing songs at a slow tempo.”
He added: “First it was the remixes, and then Mdu came up with the log drum. I don’t know how he figured it out. Amapiano has always been there, but he introduced the log drum sound. And when I got it, I also jumped on the bandwagon. Piano is mainly the log drum.”
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