DJ Speedsta Dragged For Dissing Amapiano. Amapiano is a hybrid of deep house, jazz and lounge music and it is distinguished by high-pitched piano melodies, kwaito basslines, low tempo 90s South African house rhythms and percussions from another local subgenre of house known as Bacardi. The genre experienced increased popularity across the African continent in 2020 with noted increases in digital streams and chart successes in countries far from its South African origin. The genre introduced many ne talented artists, while already popular artists leaned towards the genre while others had quite an opinion about the sound.
Musician and TV personality DJ Speedsta has been dragged on Twitter, after he claimed that Amapiano DJs all “play the same songs”. The hip-hop DJ decided to declare war on amapiano at the weekend, name dropping one of the hottest tracks right now: John Wick by De Mthuda. “Piano DJs all play the same songs. John wick 4 times a night,” he wrote.
This tweet did not sit well with social media users, more especially “John Wick” track fans who hit back at Speedsta, saying hip hop DJs did the same. Some even went on to attack him personally by taking aim at his career. Amapiano frenzys defended the amapiano genre, telling Speedsta to sit this one out.
“Amapiano as an emerging genre is paining a lot of hip-hop artists like Dj Speedsta. Unlike the gatekeeped hip-hop industry, the amapiano industry is making a whole lot of artists eat which is beautiful to see. Either you embrace this authentic South African sound or keep quiet,” one social media user wrote.
The backlash led to a conversation about the genre, that saw rapper Cassper Nyovest weigh in. leaning into amapiano himself, the star took to his social media to praise how anyone that can make a hit, regardless of who they are. “The one thing I love about amapiano is that there are no gatekeepers. Ha gona bosso. It’s either your song is hot or it’s not!” tweeted Cassper.
