Maphorisa Responds To A Claim That He Made Kabza Who He Is Today. Since 2019’s Scorpion Kings, the colossal amapiano album that introduced us to his musical partnership with amapiano pioneer Kabza De Small, Maphorisa has been releasing quality music at a frantic pace. His foray into amapiano has been nothing short of spectacular. The ease with which he’s made the transition is unsurprising.
A critic went on social media to state that Maphorisa made Kabza who he is today. Maphorisa however, cleared the confusion and shared that he helped and mentored him instead. “No made sounds wrong n hush, But I Helped n mentored him to run a Record label n have a good managment,” he responded.
Before teaming up for their debut collaborative record ‘Scorpion Kings’ in 2019, both DJ Maphorisa and Kabza de Small were already being heralded as “godfathers” of the amapiano genre. Maphorisa had been honing in his craft for a decade before the release of his debut solo single: the genre-defining ‘Midnight Starring’ in 2018. After building up his musical profile as part of chart-topping band Uhuru and producing for the likes of Drake, Black Coffee, Major Lazer, Sizwe Alakine and C4 Pedro — he turned to his hand to solo work, dropping a number of platinum-reaching releases, heading on a world tour with Wizkid and even heading up a slot at The Lab LDN earlier this year.
Kabza de Small on the other hand could be regarded as a relative newcomer in comparison but has still found himself as a bellwether for modern amapiano. Five years Maphorisa’s junior, de Small began making music in 2009, at just 18 years old, establishing his own label Pianohub — the imprint on which he would release his breakthrough single ‘Umshove’. Riding off the back of his early success, he released the seminal ‘I Am The King Of Amapiano: Sweet & Dust’ in 2020, a record that would go on to become double platinum in South Africa, landing de Small on Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list and as the most streamed artist in South Africa on Spotify for 2020.
