Maphorisa On How Amapiano Has Changed Many Lives. Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe, who goes by the name DJ Maphorisa, is a South African DJ and record producer who has collaborated with many dance and house acts. He has co-produced tracks including Kwesta’s ‘Ngud’ (2016), Drake’s ‘One Dance’ (2016) featuring Wizkid and Kyla and Shekhinah’s ‘Suited’ (2017), all of which topped the South African singles chart while ‘One Dance’ topped Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and the Official U.K. Singles Chart. His track ‘Soweto Baby’ featuring Wizkid and DJ Buckz came out in 2019.
Maphorisa has opened up about how amapiano changed other people’s lives including his. “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,” he shared.
Speaking on what motivated him to invest in amapiano, Phori said: “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 added.
