Da Kurk Opens Up About His Involvement In Amapiano Even Before Scorpion Kings Jumped On It. Hailing from Daveyton and now a resident of the lush suburb of Olivedale is international DJ, and music producer Kutloano “Da Kruk” Nhlapo, who has always been a big lover of what’s trending in local culture. He started his radio career over 10 years ago and describes his craft as something dreamy.
Da Kruk has lent his voice in advocating for the sound of amapiano since 2016, “when not a lot of people were clued up on what the genre was all about”, remarked the DJ during an interview with Sowetan.
The star started working on Amapiano sound around 2016 when he worked at YFM. “So I started pushing the sound when I was still a radio presenter at YFM in 2016, with a show we used to call Amapiano Hour. At the time, I was the first person to play the songs on commercial radio, which helped give a lot of artists their big break. Artists like Josiah De Disciple, MFR Souls, De Mthuda, Gaba Cannal who are now household names. Everyone used to overlook the sound and thought amapiano would never last through the years as it has, this was before Scorpion Kings (DJ Maphorisa and Kabza de Small) made amapiano by inserting vocals on it,” he said.
He also has another radio show in America called the African Syndicate, which he broadcasts from SA every Wednesday. “When I left YFM in 2019, instead of looking for another radio job in SA, I started linking up with a lot of people in the UK. I chose Europe based on the huge community they have from the Diaspora. I started curating my radio show AmaInternational based on the talent found in the genre I had faith in.”
His keen sense for music positioned him in the right place to become one of the torch bearers to push South African pop culture, be it fashion, music, or latest trends to his best ability on platforms exposed to him. “Getting your name out there isn’t easy. You sometimes feel unappreciated or not given your flowers but, like amapiano, people will eventually get to know and recognise my name.”
