An amalgamation of deep house, jazz, EDM and the inescapable call-to-action of tribal drums: Amapiano (Zulu for “the pianos”) is taking the world by storm.

Zulu singers were once the only voices heard on these underground South African tracks. Kabza De Small, the self-proclaimed King of Amapiano, started in the mid 2010’s along with early pioneers such as DJ Maphorisa. Now, established artists like Yemi Alade, and producers, eg. Juls, from across the continent are taking a stab at it to leave their mark on the genre. Even fresh faces like DBN GoGo and Musa Keys continue to push the boundaries as the sound evolves.

As far as global trends go, international contemporaries are re-introducing jazz components in other genres as well. Some of the rising stars also featured in Volume 2 include Teni, Reekado Banks, Lucky Daye, L.A.X., Fireboy DML, Chop Daily, Tay Iwar, Lojay, Isaiah Rashad to name a few.