DJ Maphorisa On What Motivated Him To Invest So Much In Amapiano. Amapiano pioneer DJ Maphorisa, who’s long earned his belt for pumping out hits for almost a decade, revealed why he invested so much in amapiano. The star has already carved his name in the music industry as a whole considering his huge influence and smash hits he has produced.
Speaking to OkayAfrica, DJ Maphorisa revealed what motivated him to invest so much in amapiano. “With my gigs, I wanted to understand people’s reactions to this new sound because amapiano was underground. What really sparked my interest in the genre was that, at the time, I was looking to get into something that originated in South Africa. Amapiano is part of kwaito and dance music. When I started working with Afrobeats, which hails from Western Africa, I felt that we didn’t have a sound that strongly represented South Africa. When I started paying close attention to amapiano, I knew that this was a sound that would take South Africa to the world. There’s a lot that you can do with amapiano — you can make it soulful, funky, dusty and hard or jazz it up,” he said.
While genres become popular and then reaches its sell by date, Amapiano has been popular for quite some time and already some musicians are working hard to ensure that the same thing that happened to gqom never happens to amapiano. Maphorisa also mentioned that with amapiano, there is a lot they could do with it.
“At some point, I knew that gqom would reach its sell-by date because it was fast-paced and dark. I find that once a genre becomes dark, the songs end up sounding the same. Gqom was dope but I also felt like it was, only, for certain people. However, with amapiano, I realised quite early on that there was a lot that we could do with it,” he added.
