Cover Star Interview
South African amapiano DJ and and producer Uncle Waffles joins Dadaboy Ehiz on Apple Music 1 to talk about her latest track, the Tony Duardo and Justin99 collab “Yahyuppiyah (feat. Pcee, Eeque & Chley).” She also discusses her sophomore EP, ‘Asylum’, the diversity of amapiano, and her experience of bringing African music to the world.
The Big 5
Dadaboy Ehiz shares the 5 hottest new African tracks of the moment. This week’s selection includes new tracks from Felo Le Tee, Mellow & Sleazy & SjavasDaDeejay feat. Kabelo Sings & Keynote, Babyboy AV, Amerado feat. Kwaku DMC, Vuyina & PLXYGRND feat. Sizwe Alakine, and Hunter Rose.
Africa Rising
Nigerian rapper and singer-songwriter Candy Bleakz is the latest artist featured from Apple Music’s Africa Rising playlist, a campaign which shines a light on the next generation of African superstars, and this week’s show features her single, “Wale,” and the NATIVE Sound System & Sholz collab with Teezee & Odumodublvck, “Vex.” Listen HERE.
Dadaboy’s Song of the Week
Each week, Dadaboy Ehiz chooses his favourite track from one of Apple Music’s African playlists. This week he spotlights Nigerian singer-songwriter Flavour and his single “Game Changer (Dike),” from Apple Music’s Highlife playlist. Listen HERE (and find a roundup of all Dadaboy’s selections on Apple Music’s Dadaboy’s Playlist, HERE).
Tune in and listen to the full episode this Friday, April 14th at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow.
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Uncle Waffles Tells Apple Music about her EP, ‘Asylum’
I wanted a project that’s going to represent the journey that I’ve been through since everything happened. There’s a huge part of what happens that we don’t share, there was a lot of emotions throughout this whole time, going from someone who was taking free-kicks to travelling the world, came with a lot of things, so I wanted a project that represents the emotions that I’ve felt, feeling like you are trapped in somewhat of an asylum - it’s a beautiful asylum, but there’s so many crazy things happening that it just felt like the perfect name for my next project when I’m now in a different stage of my career.
Uncle Waffles Discusses The Diversity of Amapiano with Apple Music
One thing I’ve tried to do [with ‘Asylum’] is to make sure it shows the diversity amapiano has, to make sure that actually amapiano can fit into every genre, the same way house did. Everyone was able to do house remixes, with any sort of language, any cadence, so I just wanted to get to a place for myself where my music also allows all types of people to hop on. We’d love to have more people hop on to ‘piano sounds, so that’s the energy you should expect - a lot of diversity on the project.
Uncle Waffles Tells Apple Music about Taking African Music to the World
Travelling the world, getting to share this genre… it feels absolutely amazing but comes with a lot of pressure because a lot of the places that I’m privileged to travel to I’m usually the first contact with ‘piano. It’s such a beautiful experience but it’s also a high-pressure experience because you know, you always have to make sure that the first contact that these people have is a contact that will make sure that the door stays open for every other amapiano act, for them to constantly want the other acts to come out, so there’s a lot of pressure but there’s so much beauty. I’m getting to see a lot of the world, experiencing things I never thought I’d be able to experience. It’s amazing, it’s still a lot of pressure but it’s beautiful overall.
