Alexandra-born Mr JazziQ first emerged as one-half of JazziDisciples, a South African DJ/producer duo which released a slate of projects that played an important role in Amapiano’s rapid ascendance from the township into the heart of the mainstream alongside the likes of DJ Maphorisa, Kabza De Small and MFR Souls.
The duo started DJing in JazziQ’s home township of Alexandra, and then quickly expanded into Thembisa and Soweto. The JazziDisciples began filming their gigs, including new tracks into their sets and then sharing these on different social media platforms.
It helped create an appetite for the duo’s music and when they began dropping singles like “Ara’Robala” and “Mogwasha” (2018), fans began streaming the songs in big numbers. Citing house legends from Oskido to Shimza, Culoe De Song and Black Coffee as influences, the solo sound that Mr JazziQ has been developing since 2020 is
“definitely more commercially upbeat and is made for people to respond to instantly – whether something to sing along or dance to – or to listen to while relaxing,”
he says.
His debut EP, 0303, was one of the breakout successes of 2020 with more than three million streams (as of March 2021).
Mr JazziQ was part of some of the year’s biggest Amapiano songs including:
- ‘VSOP’, ‘
- Umsebenzi Wethu’,
- ‘Zlele’, ‘GUPTA’,
- ‘Catalia’,
- ‘Woza’,
- ‘Sithi Sithi’,
- ‘Dakiwe’
