Top names in amapiano share their experiences

From Jack Budha, in Mamelodi, Pretoria, to Konka in Pimville, Soweto, Spotify hosted a four-day amapiano tour featuring influencers from SA, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana to celebrate five years since the streaming service arrived on Mzansi soil.

The tour featured special appearances by the hottest and top names in amapiano including a studio session with Maphorisa, Hannah Montana dance challenge with Kamo Mphela and an electric night at Konka with Kabza De Small on the decks. Below are some highlights from some of the artists: 

Focalistic on the impact of TikTok on amapiano:

I never had TikTok until a year ago, so I used to hear that my sound was trending there and I didn’t understand what it meant. So I never had to change, just today my little brother was calling me about my song and a [new] challenge – and I didn’t even know about it. So, I’m there, but I feel like our responsibility as artists is to document life and not fall into trends, because then your music becomes bubblegum. At the end of the day we still need the meat, so as much as there is a trend, your song still has to mean something. When it comes to the core I’m an artist and not a TikTok artist.

Young Stunna on his music evolution:

I was first a hip-hop artist. I didn’t know anything about amapiano... I then started working with artists in my hood to figure out where we wanted to go with the sound because [at the time] we discovered private amapiano, which was at kasi. That sound was dominant in places like Daveyton and Soweto – this is where we learnt it the most. I didn’t have Instagram at the time nor could I even afford data for [social media]. So, it was hard for me to push my craft on Instagram, the streets actually helped push me and put me out there. My first song popped in the streets... I didn’t know about TikTok or how to promote my music on Instagram – so I needed to learn all about that.

Young Stunna on source of inspiration:

I was inspired by artists like Aymos because they knew how to put a story into an amapiano song and what was happening in the piano scene. Our music is more about being and feeling “expensive”, so you have to flex and let people know that I have money. Hence, I wanted to tell that in my songs. When I heard the amapiano melodies, I realised how similar they were to hip-hop, it was just a different tempo. So, it was easy for me to transition and rap on the melodies and sing to the tune... that’s how I started telling my story with my songs.

Maphorisa on how amapiano has changed many lives:

Amapiano has helped a lot of kids in the hood [to] eat. It’s a genre that can’t be ignored or overlooked. It started at kasi and now it has crossed our borders, which is so wonderful to witness.