MAN ON FIRE

DJ Maphorisa has been serving hit after hit for over a decade – but it’s only now that he’s realising his dream

- DUENNA MAMBANA

HE MIGHT seem like an overnight success. As his hit, Phoyisa, gets played over and over all across Mzansi, even getting a mention from EFF leader Julius Malema in parliament, it feels as if he’s just burst onto the music scene.

But, of course, as his true fans would know, DJ Maphorisa has been around for some time.

“People actually don’t know but I’ve been in the industry for over 10 years and I feel only now I’m becoming the artist I used to dream of becoming,” he tells DRUM. “So those who have joined the journey now, they aren’t late.”

Phoyisa, the hit amapiano track Maphorisa and Kabza De Small released late last year, has won him a new legion of fans.

The smash-hit spawned the Phoyisa challenge on social media.

There’s no doubt they’re taking the music scene by storm, we remark when we catch up with one-half of the dancefloor kings.

Themba Sekowe, better known as Maphorisa, tells DRUM he’s both dumbstruck and delighted by the hype.

“When we released the Scorpion Kings album, we really just randomly dropped a body of work because we had too much music that we had done together,” he says. “The response is definitely something we didn’t anticipate – and that’s what has made the journey so exciting.”

MAPHORISA grew up in Soshanguve, Tshwane, and there was always music in his home.

“I collected more than 10 000 music files on my computer. Every day after school, I would run home to share my music with friends. Music is my life and it comforts me when I’m sad,” he told the Daily Sun in an interview.