The American rapper took to Twitter to share news of experimenting with Amapiano and used a Nigerian flag, which did not sit well with a number of South Africans.
Swae Lee apologises for ‘crediting’ Amapiano as Nigerian amid Mzansi criticism. Picture: @swaelee/Instagram
JOHANNESBURG – On Tuesday, US rapper, Swae Lee, who is part of hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, revealed via Twitter that he was working on an Amapiano song.
However, the rapper was met with backlash after he used a Nigerian flag in his tweet, which some Mzansi tweeps read as crediting Nigeria for the genre, instead of South Africa.
The sub-genre of house music emerged from Johannesburg in the early 2010s, according to The Music Origins Project.
woooooah I never said anything about who was the first guys I just said wait until y’all hear my amapiano songs ???? y’all reached for that one
‘ Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 12, 2023
Swae World Peace ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/72LpvMry74
‘ Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 11, 2023
“I never discredited anybody. Sorry y’all read it that way,” said the rapper in a video apology following the backlash.
“I never said anything about its origins in that tweet. I was just letting my fans know I’m tapped in and been cooking some Amapiano style songs. Salute to the history of Amapiano and the first creators of it. I’m not taking that away from anybody. Much love and stay tuned,” he added.
The apology did not stop the conversation.
SOUTH AFRICAN need to understand he does not say you ain’t the originator of Amapiano…..someone please explain to them before wake up in the morning start burning Nigeria shop like they use to do…
‘ Briston Ajibola (@AjibolaBriston) July 12, 2023
AKA and Burna Boy stopped talking because of this Naija vs SA Twitter beef, Swae Lee is an ass for starting this
‘ The Instigator (@Am_Blujay) July 12, 2023
I find it interesting how South Africans embraced Nigerian artists when Afrobeats peaked. Now instead of embracing SA for Amapiano & educating this Swae Lee guy, they want to take credit for it’s success.
‘ Bobbie Neo Lehana (@Bobbie_Lehana) July 12, 2023
Nigerians Are Claiming That They Started Amapiano, Nigerians are always involved in some kind of fraud. They started by stilling afrobeats from Cameron claiming being founder of it. Now they wanna steal AmaPiano. Amapiano Is A South African Identity, It’s a Culture & Our Pride.
‘ Man’s NOT Barry Roux (@AdvoBarryRoux) July 12, 2023
Yes everyone does rap but we all know & acknowledge it as American music. South Africa today has the biggest House Music market in the world but we would never try and claim it as our own cuz we know & acknowledge that it comes from Chicago. We don’t mind ppl doing Amapiano, we… https://t.co/MPTqHnPbHP
‘ WE JUST ARRIVED FC???? (@TheeAzanian) July 11, 2023
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