Amapiano, the South African club strain that’s equal parts slick and thunderous, finds itself at an inflection point—its third in as many years. Having solidified in 2019 around the thunk of its log-drum basslines (rather than the more amorphous, bordering-on-corny piano licks that gave the genre its name in the early 2010s), the sound filtered across Africa and then further afield during COVID-19 lockdowns. Since clubs reopened, amapiano has gone from underground buzzword to its own category on Beatport. In 2022, it’s been sprinkled…
