To be sure, the songs off this album will not eclipse the single Izinja in terms of chart or dance-floor success. But Kleva contains a higher proportion of solid, well-laid tracks.
His mood swings from a playful tribute to his native Zola — which has produced a bucketful of current kwaito acts, including Mzambiya, Mandoza and stablemate Zola — to Kufa (Death), on which he collaborates with Zola and Chiskop to lament the passing of peers because of Aids. Then he brings the sensuous R&B influence of Twistyle in I Really Like It.
The effort also confirms kwaito’s role in establishing a credible vernacular idiom, one that has ironically broken ground for hip-hop to thrive. This coming summer kwaito will seriously be challenged by the emergence of hip-hop.
The challenge will not be a tidal wave like house music was a few years ago, but will be in a series of gutsy bursts. Kwaito will need all the help it can get, and Mapaputsi is a dependable fighter.