Take the pioneering jazz influence of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, give it a rinse in the progressive deep house sounds made popular by Kenny Dope and Little Louie Vega of Masters At Work and finally place it on a windowsill to dry next to its distant cousins in afrobeats and kwaito. Only then will you even begin to scratch the surface of understanding the budding new sound of amapiano.
As we’ve seen with the meteoric rise of GRAMMY-winning pop star Tyla, the genre originated in South Africa somewhere in the Gauteng province between Johannesburg and Pretoria is making superstars out of those who dare to dabble. One in particular is 26-year-old Uncle Waffles, born Lungelihle Zwane, a Swazi native who has captivated fans of the genre to the point of being crowned as the “Princess Of Amapiano.”
It’s a title she’s been holding onto strong following her 2022 debut, and the movement has only gone up in the four years since as she drops even bigger chunes for the crowd.
Her latest is a new EP titled 4 DA STREETS!, released alongside frequent collaborator Royal MusiQ.
RELATED: New Music Mondays – Meet Brooklyn Collective BLAC WATA
Boasting four previous well-received EPs under her belt, including Red Dragon (2022), Asylum (2023), Solace (2023) and 4 Da Ho’s (2024), Uncle Waffles is keeping her momentum going with her latest six-song offering. With 4 DA STREETS!, amapiano is sonically at it finest and most certainly its most thumping. In just over 34 minutes, your ears are taken across the globe to a place where hips shake wildly, light feet takes on a whole new meaning and the beats blare with a vibration in every passing second.
In understanding her history, which includes co-hosting the TRL-inspired variety show Studio1 on Eswatini TV and teaching herself how to DJ during the 2020 pandemic, you realized that success was always in the cards for Uncle Waffles.
If you’re looking to start the week off stepping to something proper, we highly recommend giving 4 DA STREETS! a few spins — standout tracks include “Too Cool,” “Woza Kim” and EP closer “Brazilian funk.” With high anticipation for a full-length project in the near future, we’ll be tuned it until that time comes along with South Africa and the rest of the world.