Riky Rick has responded to claims that South African rappers are trying to sound like Americans in order to be popular‚ telling a UK publication that such insults were hurtful and disrespectful to some artists in the industry.

Riky‚ who was himself inspired by US artists as a fledgling rapper‚ has been on a mission to carve out his own sound with a strong South African influence‚ and told The Ubunifu Space that anyone who accused SA artists of sounding American should understand the diversity of accents in South African.

“My accent is different from Cassper’s accent. Emtee’s accent is different. Everyone raps differently. AKA’s accent is different also. It is the difference in the way they speak. The way we speak English is not the same way we speak Zulu. Even if I spoke English‚ people wouldn’t know where I am from.”

He said that while he was not touched by the criticism‚ it was offensive to some in the industry.

“It hurts people. Because that is a diss back home. ‘It’s not America here. You sound American’ is a diss.”

Rappers such as Emtee and A-Reece have come under fire in recent weeks for having an “American accent“.

A-Reece was dragged on social media after a Metro FM interview last month where he declared: “Hey yo! Yo! Yo! Hello‚ world! Hello to the beautiful blue sky. Hello to the green grass and the trees‚ baby” in an accent that fans begged him to drop.