Amapiano + Afrikaner rap = a genre-busting success
Jack Parow and DJ Maphorisa successfully merged their music to make a boundary-defying song
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The pianos
Most music collabs invariably result in something better being made than would have been created alone. It’s an amalgamation of both artists’ talents, techniques and knowledge in one tune.
Usually, the two creatives have some element in common apart from their art. In the case of Jack Parow and DJ Maphorisa, the common feature seemed a bit distant. How do you merge the powerful amapiano style of the sounds of the kasi – a combination of deep House, throbbing basslines and jazzy lounge music – with the hard-rapping expletive-laden style of Afrikaans innovator Jack Parow?
As a cultural merger, it seems almost impossible. But the artists made it work.
Party, party, party, party
Jack Parow is a bit of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, to borrow from Churchill, but he does like to jol: his work doesn’t venture down political lines all that much, but more along the lines of parties, happy hours and brandy and coke.
When asked how to describe his music, he narrowed it down to this simple phrase: “Rap music that you can braai to but also naai to.”
Very much a unique sound, but other notable artists do make similar music, so who does Parow look up to? “I don’t look up to many people,” says Parow. “I’m pretty tall, but definitely Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager … pretty much any lock.”
Either way, Jack Parow is a national treasure and arguably the best in his field of Afrikaans rap.
Enter DJ Maphorisa, bringing the smouldering tunes of amapiano with him. “Amapiano” (isiZulu for “the pianos”) is a style of House music that emerged from the kasi around 201o.
It’s a mixture of jazz and deep and progressive House music. It’s fun. It’s chilled, and the vibe is contagious. It also has its own evolution and subgenres.
“There’s the jazzy side, where it’s just instrumental, and we have soulful amapiano with voices,” explains Maphorisa. “There’s a tech piano version with more claps and snaps.”
On paper, amapiano does not seem an ideal partner for Parow’s wildness and penchant for vloeking. So how did Parow feel about the collab between amapiano and Afrikaans hip-hop?
“It was probably a bit of a foreign concept to me at first because it’s never been done,” says Parow. “Still, I knew Porri and his style, and I knew we would make it work, and we did.
“Literally, the first beat that was made, we jumped on and were done and dusted!”
An easy process
“Easy and quick,” says Parow. “Sometimes things can take so long, but we just clicked and it just worked and that’s rad. It doesn’t always happen.”
In an article in Rolling Stone in July 2021, Maphorisa commented on the role of language in amapiano. Most amapiano isn’t sung in English. Maphorisa acknowledged then that it can hinder global penetration in a Western hegemony. He says that some South Africans don’t like English lyrics in local music – it appears hoity.
Only 16% of South Africans speak English as their mother tongue, while 13.5% speak Afrikaans at home. That’s almost seven million people.
“You don’t have to use English much, as long as the person can understand you’re talking about love or heartbreak,” he says.
Bringing Afrikaans into the mix takes things to a whole new level, though, and introducing the rap zaniness of Parow even more so.
“I’m all about collaboration and creating new sounds,” says Maphorisa.
“In my career, I have touched everything from Afro pop, Afro beat, gqom and now amapiano, so the idea wasn’t too farfetched. Anyway, amapiano vocals are somewhat rapping in vernacular, so Afrikaans rap wasn’t going to be too difficult. “One thing about amapiano that people should know is that it is dynamic, it can adapt, and on this track, it hit.”
On working with Parow, Maphorisa says that “more than anything, I think I learnt more Afrikaans, but overall it was good vibes.
“We clocked the song so quickly. He’s very easy to work with, and he totally gets the importance of collaboration. He has good vibes and good energy. He’s a creative genius all round.”