DJ Maphorisa spent most of 2022 being accused of ‘gatekeeping’ amapiano

If we had a penny for every time DJ Maphorisa had to defend himself after being accused of being  the gatekeeper of amapiano it would be enough money to buy something big. 

The music producer and DJ had to put out fires started by others.

Here are the many times he was under the microscope of fans of the genre.

Maphorisa vs MacG

The podcast host was sitting with his co-host Sol Phenduka when he made claims the DJ was a gatekeeper, adding he was not scared of DJ Maphorisa.

“Let me tell you a story about gatekeeping. There is someone who told me Maphorisa is going to be mad that I am dropping an EP, and I did not ask for his approval. Now, I must ask Maphorisa before I drop an EP. They said Maphorisa is going to be mad because I did not ask for his approval because he is a gatekeeper,” he said

Maphorisa took to his Twitter timeline to respond to MacG's claims. 

“Heban @MacGUnleashed, what's the problem? We come far boy. Never even once disrespected you. Why this? What's the problem?” he tweeted.

No one owns amapiano

Shortly after he started trending because of MacG he set the record straight and told his followers no one can lay a claim to owning the genre. 

“I see you don’t get it. No one owns amapiano. Anyone can do it and win. Good example, look at Uncle Waffles, one trending Adiwele video, the rest was history. She did it alone. Ooh look at Costa Titch he’s doing alone and winning. Stop saying I am keeper.”

Scorpion King saga

Maphorisa set the record straight after he was accused of exploiting young artists.

This came after an old interview with Black Crown Gin & Tonic resurfaced on social media where Kabza De Small spoke of how he had no knowledge of the producer releasing his album.

In an Instagram Live post, Maphorisa said he made a calculated decision when he released Scorpion Kings without the knowledge of collaborator Kabza De Small.

“You want to make the Scorpion Kings decision a bad idea. Yes, Kabza didn’t know anything about it, I decided that. That’s the best decision I made for my life, for the culture, for amapiano. A harsh one, but it was the best. Look at us now,” he said.

“I worked on that album, I selected the artwork. I selected the tracks for the first album. If you go to Kabza’s first album you’ll see my name is not there, but I’m probably involved in all of those tracks.”

Major labels sometimes mess with the amapiano movement

On his timeline the Izolo hit maker accused Universal Music of removing his Scorpion Kings mix from YouTube to hype up another artist.

“So Universal Music removed our Scorpion King mix on YouTube because they want to drop Thokoza by Sam Deep first. The funny thing is we are making the song big. Ai ke di Bari, shame. They really don't know how to make money. Major labels sometimes f**k up the amapiano movement,” he said.

Nota defends Maphorisa

While some were having a go at Maphorisa, music exec Nota Baloyi came to his defence on social media.

Nota slammed those who were having a go at the DJ and called them out for their “disgusting says”.

“When we had nothing, Maphorisa housed us, fed us and helped us feed ourselves. You’ll never see me biting a hand that once fed me. I’m disgusted by all the Phori slander that goes about on the timeline, and all these podcasts. It’s absolutely disgusting,” he said