The amapiano star speaks about his music journey, JazziDisciples’ early days and his new album.
“Does anybody know how far he is?”
Mr JazziQ was due at YFM for an interview with Ayanda MVP 15 minutes ago, and one of the station managers was getting anxious. There was a plan: Mr JazziQ would arrive, have his interview and play a live guest DJ mix. Then, as he walked out of the studio, everyone would scream “Surprise!” as personnel from Sony Music Entertainment Africa, his parent label, presented him with gold and platinum plaques for Halala, 10111 and Teka.
Instead, they take turns phoning him. No answer. Eventually, someone from his entourage says he’s entering Hyde Park, which is about five minutes away. He doesn’t arrive for another 15 minutes.
It turns out he spent most of the day scrambling, having just flown back into the country from London and having to deal with a personal family matter.
When the interview eventually gets underway, there are no signs of any rust as JazziQ exchanges banter with Ayanda, who pranks him with a fake fire drill. When he steps out to observe the drill, Ayanda goes on air to explain that they’re about to surprise him with some plaques.
A broad smile appears on his face when he sees a dozen or so people cheering for him as one of the Sony Music bigwigs hands over one of the plaques.
After the fanfare subsides, JazziQ joins me in a boardroom. I ask him how he’s feeling. “I’m overwhelmed, more than anything,” he says. “Every time I’m at Y, there’s something weird that happens. So I’m just like, ‘hmmm, so today there’s a fire drill only cause I’m here? You guys didn’t know? No ways’.”
The 27-year-old, who was born Tumelo Manyoni, has been one of amapiano’s torchbearers as the genre has gone global over the past few years. While churning out hits at a rate comparable to fellow heavyweights DJ Maphorisa, Busta 929 and Kabza De Small, JazziQ has established himself as a producer and DJ in South Africa. He has also been nurturing his independent label, Black Is Brown Entertainment.
JazziQ’s rise to amapiano royalty has been swift. He was first introduced to the scene as one half of the amapiano duo, JazziDisciples, alongside long-time collaborator Josiah De Disciple, who he met in high school. The song that put them on the map was their 2018 single, Long Lasting.
“That was actually the first amapiano music video,” JazziQ says. “We shot it at a big amapiano party called House of Piano that used to happen every year. It was mandatory for us to be there because we were driving the culture. It was massive, it was crazy. People loved what was happening in the video and the [party energy] is what people loved. It was the first video that’s just instrumentals, there were no lyrics, nothing.”
Those around them advised that radio wouldn’t bite and it’d fall on deaf ears but JazziQ, who is known for his thick skin, stuck to his guns. The song would go on to be a radio hit, thrusting the duo into the spotlight at a time when amapiano had barely scratched the surface.
The blend of their contrasting sounds made JazziQ and Josiah a dynamic combination.
“We’ve always had different tastes in music, always,” he says. “Josiah was more of a soulful guy, and I was more drawn to the street and upbeat vibe. But at the end of the day we had a common understanding about where we wanted to drive JazziDisciples and how we wanted to go about it.”
Along the way there were some misunderstandings and Josiah decided he wanted to focus on his solo career in 2020.
“That was okay and I supported him,” says JazziQ. “His way of making music is more spiritual and more calm, it’s different to what I’m making. I can give you a bit of everything in a song. I don’t think we’ll be making music together anymore though, things are just shaky.”
Given the success he’s achieved with JazziDisciples and now as a solo act, I ask him if he still finds moments like the one at YFM exciting.
“Ah naa, I don’t feel like I’ve reached that success level yet. I haven’t reached the success peak, so my excitement is as good as trying out sweets for the first time,” he says, adding that he still finds joy in the entire music process and all that it comes with.
“As long as I continue to enjoy the whole process it won’t feel like work at all. You must always be prepared for the worst on a good day and prepare for the best on a bad day. Today, literally, it was the worst day for me. I was out of the country, my family was busy planning some stuff and I also had to get back to try to rearrange everything.”
On 12 August, Mr JazziQ released his fourth project, All You Need is Piano. The 18-track album mostly features his roster of Black is Brown artists alongside a few A-list amapiano stars including Lady Du, Zuma, Murumba Pitch, and MJ.
For JazziQ, the album title and its content were all about sharing the love. “If you check my previous album it was called Party With the English, and then I came back and did All You Need is Piano. For me, it’s in relation to what I’ve experienced before. So I try to put it in text, and then the music follows through. My music is relatable. The album caters to all markets instead of a certain age group or a certain kind of people. Even our mothers can listen to it now because I’ve added some gospel in it so they can also relate and not feel like we’re leaving them out.”
Over the past two years, JazziQ has struck up a fruitful relationship with amapiano star Focalistic, which has given rise to a number of records, most notably the platinum single Gupta, as well as a few unreleased records. JazziQ recalls how their relationship was formed shortly after he split with Josiah, and Focalistic had just gone through his own split with Major League DJz.
“You know how girls link up to talk about, ‘You won’t believe what that guy did’? It was that kind of moment and then that’s how we actually became close.”
The pair may yet release a joint project together when they aren’t too busy with their own schedules, he says.
Despite amapiano’s growing success, JazziQ says lack of support from the government is hampering the genre’s growth.
“I mean, we’re doing bigger movements than the national soccer team,” he says. “C’mon, let’s be honest. The least you could do is just support us. Show that this thing is actually ours and this thing is actually bringing more tourism into the country. Banyana Banyana came back and they won the cup, but we’re also doing big shows. And I’m happy because I did the song for Banyana Banyana, but can we get some acknowledgement? Even during lockdown, we were the biggest movement in the streets.”
On the topic of lockdown, JazziQ speaks about how, despite the period being difficult for the music industry, he found a way to flip it into a success story by opening a restaurant in Alexandra called Junk Park. Realising how people were bemoaning the fact that they couldn’t get junk food because of lockdown restrictions, JazziQ figured he knew how to get a system going to create greasy fast food and make it accessible to people. Junk Park became one of the success stories of the pandemic and is still one of the popular establishments.
“In everything that you do, when you see a gap, don’t think about it twice,” he says. “You must go in. If you lose you’ll say, ‘I tried’, then you’ll come back and find your way. That’s what I do.”