Meeting with the King

DJ Lag was one of the first international breakthrough stars from the gigantic, world-changing wave of music that came out of South Africa with gqom and then amapiano. He was a key innovator of the former, darker, more gothic style, then effortlessly wove the subtler, linear patterns of the latter in. He’s a key example of how these potent, soundsystem-rocking styles can be made effectively very commercial without compromising their innovation, local character or sheer power. This album really shows him as a mature artist, elegantly weaving through electronics and raw and impactful as any grime tune, vocals and melodies that speak of centuries of deep tradition, and plenty of tangible passion for dance and the dancefloor as the centre of life and culture.

DJ Lag is the pioneer of gqom, and since 2016 he’s helped transport the genre from Durban townships to dancefloors all over the world, even collaborating on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift. But rather than sticking to the style he created, DJ Lag has continued to develop his sound, incorporating elements of amapiano, Afro House, Afro Tech and even trap. His openness and penchant for collaboration are obvious on his first full length album Meeting With the King, which feels like a boundaryless celebration of South African dance music and the community that foster it: on “Khavude” he collaborates with legendary amapiano producer Mr JazziQ and late rapper Mpura, whose self assured, calm vocals are contrasted by urgent synths and sirens; opener “Thongo Lami’’ is an amapiano-infused, melodic jam carried by Ndoni’s  powerful vocals, while on the darker “Chaos” he works with some of Durban’s newest gqom producers. The title Meeting With the King might sound a bit egotistical, but here DJ Lag is anything but.