Kwiish SA
Lehlohonolo Marota, known as Kwiish SA, grew up around his father's club in Vosloorus on Johannesburg's East Rand, teaching himself production on borrowed DJ gear before his 2018 breakout "Iskhathi (Gong Gong)" helped carry amapiano's rolling log-drum sound out of the townships and onto national radio. Dubbed the "Prince of Amapiano," he has kept releasing genre-crossing amapiano, Afro house and soulful house records since.
Kwiish SA came up in the same early amapiano scene — Vosloorus and the wider East Rand — that Kabza De Small helped define; his productions share Kabza's foundational template of spacious, jazz-chord keys riding over a slow, rolling log-drum bassline.
listen forPlay Kabza De Small's breakout 'Umshove' then Kwiish SA's 'Ka painelwa' — both ride that same unhurried, keys-over-log-drum amapiano pocket.
As amapiano moved from township parties onto national radio, DJ Maphorisa's hit-making, feature-stacked production formula set a commercial template that younger amapiano producers, Kwiish SA included, worked within.
listen forPlay DJ Maphorisa's gqom-amapiano crossover 'Midnight Starring,' then Kwiish SA's collaborative '3 Step' — both stack multiple South African dance-genre textures into one track built for both the club and the charts.
South African critics and historians widely describe amapiano as kwaito's musical descendant, and Brenda Fassie's bubblegum-into-kwaito crossover — turning township dance music into something built for both local dancefloors and national pop radio — anticipated the ambition amapiano producers like Kwiish SA carry forward. Tyla herself has separately named Fassie as a formative local influence.
listen forPlay Fassie's euphoric 'Vulindlela' then Kwiish SA's 'LiYoshona' — different decades, same instinct: take a distinctly South African dance rhythm and build it for a party that fills every generation's floor.