From ‘90s jungle to UK Garage, 3step, alternative hip-hop and electro punk, the last handful of decades has seen an emergence of electronic music that is ever evolving, with new artists and subgenres surfacing on a regular basis. Since the early 2000s, the South African house style gqom has grown in popularity. A pioneer for this particular genre is Clermont, South Africa-based ‘King of Gqom,’ DJ Lag, or Lwazi Asanda Gwala.
In June, the electro-artist released his sophomore album, The Rebellion, that formulates a sense of unison among his variety of sounds. Gqom stems from other genres such as kwaito and afro house, and is defined by its use of minimal and raw repetitive sounds underpinned by heavy bass. In The Rebellion, DJ Lag honours his roots with an experimental twist. With this set of tracks, the producer transforms the energy of other genres into a gqom sound with the intention of illustrating that the South African beats can be a part of any genre, trying to remain unique in a competitive industry.
The artist is known for his many collaborations, including those done with Tyla, Beyoncé, and Tierra Whack. His new album features a plethora of features, and one with Jazz Alonso, making it DJ Lag’s first track with Spanish vocals. When working with this many individuals, the King of Gqom said trust remains at the centre of his communication and work with other artists, allowing for each individual to have their true expression.
At the heart of the album lies a desire to resonate with listeners’ abundance of energy, and get them moving in whatever way feels most authentic. He said that, “in a broader sense, there’s the aspect of disrupting boundaries in music, so you can hit play and forget about definitions, just let the music take you on a journey.” The Rebellion’s debut was accompanied by DJ Lag’s performance at the Glastonbury Festival at the end of June.
Congratulations on your sophomore album, The Rebellion. What has been your greatest struggle in creating this record, and what do you consider your greatest success with its making?
Thank you! I think it was a smooth process putting this album together since I was working with people that I am close to. Most songs I started last year and finished some this year. The challenge was to be able to compile a coherent album that features some different takes on where my sound is currently at, and I think we were able to pull it off.
There are many different audible elements at play, but most of your songs remain consistent in that they are very upbeat. Can you speak to your greatest inspiration for this work?
The album is about me experimenting with different sounds but still keeping the gqom vibe in it, and many of these collaborations are born from budding friendships I have with most of my collaborators. These are people whose music I admire as well. So, throughout the process, I think I was able to create a fluid creative process where I can be in the studio with someone and keep things free playing with different styles, while keeping it anchored with the DNA of my sound. Trust played a big part. The fact that people trust me to bring what they do in a creative way and me trusting their contributions as well and not being afraid to venture.
You have been recognised as the King of Gqom. How does being a pioneer within this genre influence the way you make your music? Also, do you feel a certain pressure about this?
I feel like it’s my duty to keep the sound alive and make it evolve with the new interpretations you can hear on the album. I won’t know if it’s pressure, but I definitely always want to stay true to gqom, which will always be part of me and represent the area where I am from in South Africa. But, I think finding new ways to present that helps spread the word, so it felt like a natural progression to keep exploring.
How do you hope The Rebellion contributes to the genre as a whole?
I basically wanted to showcase how gqom can be part of anything. For example, I’m a big hip-hop fan since I was a child, so when I approach a song like Kwenzakalan, I know there’s a raw energy in trap that I just needed to translate to gqom. It takes some time to perfect in the studio technically, but these genres relate in essence. So, finding those links just brings out another aspect that is hidden in the music in the first place, and I hope it would help more people to connect to it.
Some artists fear that the labels others put on them end up constricting their creativity or how others view their work. Do you feel like you have the ability to evolve your sound if you want to?
I don’t think that’s a challenge in my case, firstly, because I love the sound, so I’m not doing it just to please someone. Secondly, because the music scene in South Africa is very dynamic, and new styles are born every day. But most of it is stemming from common cultural and musical influences, so there’s a link between these sounds and I think there’s a natural mobility for me as an artist to operate within.
We see many features in this album, including artists like Sykes & Vanco, Workaholics, Da Man, or Kamo Mphela, among many others. And in the past, you’ve also collaborated with artists like Tierra Whack, Beyoncé, or Tyla. How do you approach the collaboration process in combining your vision for a track with the other artist’s?
I have a good team who’s helping get the best features, and then, as I said, good relationships with the people I collaborate with. Every collaboration has its own story and every artist is different, but I enjoy the exchange. I feel like I can sit with a fellow producer and just create a vibe that allows for things to flow, and working with vocalists is something I really enjoy because I have a no-restriction approach. We can try anything on a particular session. If it doesn’t work, we scratch it, but more often than not it does.
In Oke Oke, you worked with Jazz Olonso. How did this come to be, and how did their Spanish language and culture influence the song?
I was having studio sessions throughout my tour last year and this song was part of those sessions. We worked on it in London with GG and Jazz Alonzo. We worked at GG’s studio, and it was one of those things that just clicked in the moment. We started the beat. Jazz started experimenting with flows, freestyling in the background, and by the time we had a good skeleton, she already wrote the lyrics and recorded. After we had the vocals in, we just perfected the production and it was all done that very same night. I never had Spanish vocals on my songs before, but it just felt right for this one.
When you make music, do you create with the intention of getting a certain message across? If so, what do you hope listeners take away from The Rebellion?
I think the cool thing about dance music is that a lot of it is based on a feel and energy that the music brings out of people. I tried to create something that will get people going, in whatever way it might touch them, whether it’s on the dance floor, bumping the music in the car and getting lost in the moment. In a broader sense, there’s the aspect of disrupting boundaries in music, so you can hit play and forget about definitions, just let the music take you on a journey.
“I feel like it’s my duty to keep the sound alive and make it evolve with the new interpretations you can hear on the album. I won’t know if it’s pressure, but I definitely always want to stay true to gqom.”
Do you have a favourite song on the album, and if so, which one?
Yes, my favourite song is Yebo because it takes me back to the days where we used to do house parties and take the mini buses and play gqom the whole night, just a hard-hitting jam with a secret sauce to it.
While there are similarities between your first album, Meeting with The King, and this one, like the repetitive, one-line vocals and irregular beats that define gqom, this new project seems to possess even more of a techno element to it. Could you tell us more about this evolution?
I just think it’s a combo between touring in Europe a lot throughout the years, being exposed to it coupled with the emergence of genres like afro tech and 3step in South Africa. There’s a natural link to the sound I was always into, so I feel like it’s just expanding on a connection that was already there to begin with.
What have been some of the main differences between creating and producing your first album and your new one? How long has this second album been in the making?
My first album took longer because of the pandemic. The amount of beats I made was crazy, so it took longer to compile, and it was just hard to get anyone to record. With this one, the process was much more focused. We still had a lot of demos to start with, but we were more intentional with the songs, the features and collaborations I wanted, so it took just under a year to conclude.
How do you find inspiration to evolve as a musician and maintain motivation in the industry? With so many artists out there, how do you manage the competition?
I always try to be different from everyone else, do my own thing. On the other hand, I am a fan of music, so I love seeing fellow artists doing dope things. I just stay in my lane and use it as motivation to keep creating and elevate the bar.
Do you have a pretty consistent fanbase you are catering to with this album? How has their anticipation of the album been?
We had a long rollout but everything really took shape after Hade Boss took off. It opened doors to some new audiences, and it just being a fun party anthem type of song, it really set the tone for the whole build up. The response was great and I really enjoyed getting this type of engagement for the music both online and playing live.
You were touring before the release of The Rebellion. Did you tease the audiences with new songs before they were released? Also, are there any venues you are most excited to play at?
I started playing some of the album songs on my previous tours, so I already knew which songs are the strongest for the dance floor. I always tease and test music playing live. Recently, I really loved playing at Peckham Audio in London and of course the Rumshack Stage at Glastonbury. That was a wild experience.