Top Kwaito Artists in South Africa

Kwaito artists with lasting power (past and current)

The music industry is notorious for being volatile; the next hot sound and/or performer may be fashionable and popular right now, but everything has a shelf life. Artists from Kwaito are no exception. The average artist will have one or two hits/albums before disappearing from the industry.

In no particular order 5 kwaito artists (including groups/bands)

EES

Eric Sell, a.k.a. EES, is rapidly rising throughout the world, from Namibia to South Africa to Germany. With 8 CDs under his belt in only 6 years, it is clear that he is ambitious and has no plans to slow down. His music is a fusion of Kwaito (African House), Afro Pop, Reggae, and Hip Hop with a funky new twist. EES was born and raised in Namibia, and began progressively getting into the fundamental business of music in the early 2000s, developing a distinct African voice style singing and rapping.

DJ Cleo

Cleopas Monyeapao, also known as DJ Cleo or M.R. Es’Khaleni, is a DJ, producer, songwriter, and the founder and owner of Will Of Steel Productions. DJ Cleo, from Gauteng East Rand, South Africa, began his musical career at the age of eleven. Cleo sought out programming and engineering skills, even doing a stint at Allenby Campus on sound engineering, as he pursued a new concept in musicianship, that being the marriage of musical instrumental skills, programming skills, and engineering skills, having Marabi styles close to his heart and being a bass player.

Mapaputsi

Mapaputsi was born in the town of Zola (a neighborhood in Soweto). He began his professional musical career in 1998, working with musicians such as TKZee, Chiskop, Sbu a.k.a. Maloya, Mischief & Mavusana, and Mischief & Mavusana. YFM DJ Khabzela started Mapaputsi’s interest in recording in 2001. People were hearing his unique voice on the Mischief and Mavusana hit “Ngyazwa” at this point.

Mapaputsi then met with top-tier producer D-Rex and, along with Khabzela, recorded and produced Izinja, an album that reflects the life of South African youth.

DJ Spoko

DJ Spoko is a South African DJ/producer who grew up under Shangaan Electro genius Nozinja’s mentorship and, as a result, taught DJ Mujava, eventually helping to develop the enormous “Township Funk” song. He’s recently been experimenting on a new form of dance music he’s dubbed “bacardi house,” and this tune is one of his most recent efforts. “Mzansi,” a local slang name for South Africa, is a snappy, bouncy kwaito mover crafted with a keen ear for vintage synth and drum machine sounds. Whether by accident or design, DJ Spoko’s single evokes the spirit of another era when simple production methods combined with a solid rhythm were all that was required for a decent tune.

Big Nuz

Huge Nuz derives its name from Big because they are accomplishing big things and NUZ is the license plate of Umlazi, one of South Africa’s largest townships located on the south coast of Durban. Mandla Maphumulo as Mampintsha, Mzi Tshomela nicknamed Danger, and Sbu Khomo aka R Mashesha make up Big Nuz. The band was founded in 2002 and was headquartered in Johannesburg, where they hustled from studio to studio in pursuit of a record.