DJ Lag announces debut album, 'Meeting With The King'
DJ Lag has shared details of his debut album, 'Meeting With The King'.
Due out in November, the 15-track album sees the producer team up with a number of artists from his native South Africa, collaborating with representatives from the gqom and amapiano scenes. Sinjin Hawke also features on one track.
Lag has also shared the first of three songs to emerge ahead of the album's release, in the form of lead cut 'Lucifer', which features amapiano vocalist Lady Du. The track, which you can check out below, is out now via Black Major and Lag's own Ice Drop imprint.
DJ Lag: the gqom king conquers the globe
Recognise: Hagan
KG shares new single, ‘Nzinga’, with Toya Delazy, announces new EP: Listen
KG has shared a new single featuring South African star Toya Delazy. ‘Nzinga’ is taken from a forthcoming EP due to land next month.
The track combines afrobeat, gqom, hard drum and R&B elements, paying homage to the roots of both artists involved. "Nzinga name wise is of African origin, has multiple definitions — Higher Level, Beautiful, Queen of Africa. Queen Nzinga fought for the Independence and stature of her kingdoms against the Portuguese in a reign that lasted 37 years," KG said of the track name.
Photo credit: Alex Lambert
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Fresh Kicks 140: Juba
“Dance is a big part of my expression as a DJ,” says Juba. “I dance behind the decks, and want people to dance very hard when they listen to me play.”
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DJ Lag co-produces track for Beyoncé on Lion King soundtrack
DJ Lag has co-produced a track on Beyoncé's Lion King: The Gift album.
The South African gqom artist is credited on ‘My Power,’ which features Tierra Whack, Beyoncé, Busiswa, Yemi Alade and Moonchild Sanelly. DJ Lag tweeted the news yesterday.
In an interview with ABC, Beyoncé explained that: “This soundtrack is a love-letter to Africa, and I wanted to make sure that we found the best talent from Africa.”
Recognise: DJ Lag
“When gqom came it was made for clubs. Made for nightlife. Dance is the best thing in Durban, so when gqom came, everybody went crazy as it was the perfect combination. That’s why it took over”
“2012 was the year it got super popular in Durban,” Gwala explains. “But it was underrated. At the time the sound was raw. We didn’t know how to master our music. It wasn’t being played on radio or TV. We didn’t get interviews. Nothing. The big artists were trying to stop the sound being big. But, eventually, people started to love what we were doing and they couldn’t stop it. Now it’s the biggest genre in South Africa.”
Gwala describes London as the second home of gqom due to the prominence of artists like Moleskin, the producer and founder of the Goon Club Allstars label, which has been pushing Durban sounds since it released Rudeboyz’s self-titled EP in 2015. He adds that its popularity outside of South Africa — also spurred by the Italian label Gqom Oh! — has played a large part in giving it more credibility in his home country. “I didn’t know how the sound makes the world go crazy until I started touring,” he says of gqom’s global impact.
“I’m happy to see people from around the world trying to be a part of gqom as it’s going to create a big growth for the sound”
Gqom can now be heard across South Africa’s TV and radio, with superstars like Okmalumkoolkat, Cassper Nyovest, Big Nuz and Babes Wodumo — the latter’s ‘Wololo’ racked up almost 10 millions hits on YouTube — adopting the sound into their music. Gwali has recently been in the studio with M.I.A., with the pair currently working on music together, as well as starring on Kelela’s Warp released remix album, ‘Take Me Apart’. That’s all ahead of his debut at Sónar this summer and an upcoming collaboration with Hyperdub.
Fresh Kicks 91: Ehua
We first became aware of Ehua when we premiered her debut track ‘New Moon’ in September 2018. Released via our Best of British Breakthrough Label 2018, femme culture, the track was an atmospheric and percussive cut, which blazed a trail for her subsequent ‘Diplozoon’ EP in November.
