Over the past few years, amapiano has been built on the back of collaboration and team spirit.
Unlike most other genres, amapiano has normalised crediting all involved artists and producers with feature credits on songs.
As a result, many artists who we wouldn’t otherwise have heard of, are now front and centre of the movement and widely recognised by the wider public for their contributions to the genre's global reach.
This collaboration and team spirit has also expanded into DJs teaming up to form amapiano DJ duos.
First it was the genre’s pioneering duo MFR Souls who sparked the flame before Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa teamed up to form the irrepressible Scorpion Kings.
We’ve since seen Major League DJz transition from new age kwaito to amapiano and become arguably the most globally visible and prominent amapiano DJs in the world.
Recently, the twin brothers (Bandile and Banele Mbere) were the special guests at Black Coffee’s historic sold-out Madison Square Garden show.
They’ve also played several shows across the globe, including most notably Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Aside from the twins, Mellow and Sleazy have been a formidable force on the scene for the past few years.
Not only have they showcased their skills as DJs, they’ve also arguably been even more prolific as producers for the likes of Focalistic, Pabi Cooper and Ch’cco.
More recently, the success of the likes of Scorpion Kings and Major League DJz has inspired the emergence of a host of young and dynamic duos such as twins Clairise and Tarryn (known as TxC), Pcee and Justin99, as well as 2wo Bunnies.
All three of these acts have seemingly come out of nowhere and made their mark on the amapiano music scene over the past year and a half.
All three have arguably had an equal impact in their own unique ways and there’s little doubt they’re all very important to the global growth of the genre in the near future.