DJ Maphorisa begs Nigerian DJs to play Amapiano at a slower tempo.

Nigerian mainstream music has been dominated by Amapiano, a South African imported genre that combines house and Kwaito music, since 2020.

South African Amapiano as well as its Afrobeats variation are frequently played by Nigerian DJs in clubs, where the speaker-rattling baselines are a popular way to start a party.

DJ Maphorisa, a well-known Amapiano artist, recently used social media to chastise Nigerian DJs for not playing South African Amapiano tracks correctly.

Maphorisa criticised Nigerian DJs for playing Amapiano songs at a high beat per minute (BPM).

Maphorisa claims that playing Amapiano at a tempo of up to 160 bpm deprives the song of its brilliant elements.

“One shouldn’t hurry into Amapaio. It is excessively high, 160 bpm. “Please reduce it to 130,” Maphorisa uttered during the live Instagram session.

DJ Maphorisa is well-known in the Nigerian music scene for his collaborations with prominent Afrobeats artists such as Lojay and Wizkid.

Amapiano, a South African import, has been a key component of Afrobeats since 2020, and many Nigerian musicians have benefited from using it.