South African rapper and singer The Big Hash has never been particularly interested in staying in one musical lane. After establishing himself across hip-hop and R&B, the Pretoria-born artist has taken his genre-fluid approach even further with his amapiano-influenced album Love Is A Star.
Speaking to TheJournalistDJ.com, The Big Hash opened up about stepping into the amapiano space, working across genres and why, despite all his experimentation, R&B remains at the centre of his artistry.
‘I don’t like being put into a pigeonhole’
For listeners who have followed The Big Hash since his early days, his move into amapiano may not be as unexpected as it initially appears.
The artist says experimentation has always been fundamental to his approach to music, arguing that his versatility stretches far beyond simply moving between rap and singing.
“I’m the type of artist, when I say I’m the best, I really do believe that I am because I do all types of genres,”
he said.
The Big Hash listed hip-hop, R&B, amapiano, gospel, rock and alternative music among the sounds he has explored, even revealing that he has previously experimented with gqom.
“I don’t like being put into a pigeonhole,” he explained.
Rather than viewing genre as a boundary, The Big Hash appears to see it as another creative tool, something he can move through depending on what he wants to express.
Amapiano community welcomed him with open arms
The Big Hash’s latest musical chapter is represented by Love Is A Star, which he described during the interview as his third album.
The project was created with Kabza De Small and Sly, with The Big Hash revealing that he spent roughly six months working on it.
While crossing from hip-hop into amapiano can sometimes spark resistance from audiences protective of particular genres, The Big Hash says his experience has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Firstly, shout out to the piano community because they’ve welcomed me with open arms,” he said.
His existing fanbase has similarly embraced the experimentation, something he believes is partly because listeners familiar with his catalogue already understand that he has never been interested in making only one type of music.
The amapiano move didn’t come out of nowhere
There had also been clues that The Big Hash was heading in this direction.
Before Love Is A Star, he experimented with amapiano on the deluxe edition of Heartbreak Hotel through “Tomorrow,” a collaboration with Cassper Nyovest, Musa Keys and Nanette.
“There was already a hint,” he said.
That record effectively provided an early glimpse into a musical direction he would later explore on a much larger scale.
For an artist coming out of Pretoria, a city with a rich relationship with house music and amapiano alongside its thriving hip-hop culture, the crossover also feels particularly fitting.
R&B remains at the heart of everything
Despite moving freely between genres, there is one musical foundation The Big Hash says he has no intention of abandoning: R&B.
“I’ll never stop making R&B music,” he said.
More importantly, he believes traces of R&B can be found throughout almost everything he creates, regardless of what genre ultimately appears on the record.
“Everything that I do, it always comes back to R&B,” he explained.
Even when he is rapping, The Big Hash points towards his melodic tendencies. When making amapiano, he similarly believes listeners can hear the R&B influence running underneath the production.
“I feel like whatever I wanna create, I create it on the base of R&B.”
For The Big Hash, songwriting itself has become something of a creative exercise — or, as he repeatedly describes it, “a sport.”
Not every heartbreak song is actually about heartbreak
That approach also provides an interesting explanation for Heartbreak Hotel.
The emotionally charged album may have convinced listeners that The Big Hash was documenting a turbulent romantic life, but he says audiences shouldn’t necessarily assume every lyric is autobiographical.
He joked about listeners constantly believing he must be getting his heart broken because of the music he makes.
“Sometimes I be talking about nothing,” he said.
While some songs may draw from his own experiences, others can simply originate from situations he believes people universally experience.
“It could just be a story that I feel like everyone goes through,” he explained.
That distinction speaks to how The Big Hash views songwriting: not simply as documenting his personal life, but as a craft that allows him to build emotions, characters and situations into songs.
More music is coming – but he’s keeping it secret
As for what follows Love Is A Star, The Big Hash isn’t ready to reveal much.
Asked about his next move, he remained deliberately mysterious.
“I’m working on everything. Anything and everything,” he said. “Whatever you think that is possible, I’m working on it right now. You just don’t know it.”
He did, however, confirm that he has been making plenty of music with one of his close friends, noting that some of their work together has already surfaced on social media.
“You never know what to expect between us, but we have a lot of music,” he teased.
For an artist who refuses to be defined exclusively as a rapper, R&B singer or amapiano artist, perhaps that unpredictability is exactly the point.
