South African disc jockey, producer, and songwriter Maphorisa revealed how Wizkid got him on the Amapiano wave.DJ Maphorisa shares how Wizkid influenced him to start making Amapiano
DJ Maphorisa is one of the biggest artists in South Africa from where the pulsating Amapiano genre started before spreading globally.In a recent interview with BBC, the award-winning hitmaker shared the story of how he got influenced to start making Amapiano.According to Maphorisa, Nigerian superstar Wizkid played a notable role in his journey to becoming one of the driving forces of Amapiano.The South African revealed that he was hanging out with Wizkid in a club in Pretoria where one of the DJs played an Amapiano record that instantly caught Wizkid’s attention who asked him about the sound.Maphorisa shared that before that Amapiano was already bubbling in South Africa’s underground scene but he never paid attention to it until the sound piqued Wizkid’s curiosity.“I thought if Wizkid really vibe with this sound then there’s something. So he’s the one who really put me on the sound,” Maphorisa told BBC.https://twitter.com/i/status/1878463595509358802
Prior to that, Maphorisa had been focused on producing more Afrobeats and Afro House tracks. However, a question from Wizkid prompted him to make a significant shift in his music, ultimately propelling him to become one of the leading figures in Amapiano, alongside other prominent South African stars like DJ and Producer Kabza De Small.
Maphorisa has previously acknowledged Wizkid as the first Nigerian artist to embrace Amapiano, particularly after the Grammy-winning artist collaborated with Burna Boy and Cassper Nyovest on Kabza De Small’s hit track Sponono.The hitmaker made this statement in 2023 during the debate among Nigerian artists about who was the first to blend the South African sound with Afrobeats.
DJ Maphorisa shares how Wizkid influenced him to start making Amapiano
