South African musicians showed their creativity and range when they created the amapiano sound.
And while it is still unclear who introduced the increasingly popular music genre to the world, the fact is that amapiano originated in South Africa.
The nation is now calling for amapiano to be gatekept, because even artists like US artist Swae Lee thought it was originally from Nigeria.
Musicians from other countries have started jumping on amapiano, which is acclaimed as a subgenre of house music.
South Africans have criticised the American rapper, singer, and songwriter out for not giving South African music its due, when it comes to amapiano.
They have also recently criticised Nigerian musician Smada for “copying” “Hamba Wena”.
The musician released a song called “Smada Eh”, which sounds eerily similar to “Hamba Wena,” a hit by Deep London and Boohle.
The amapiano banger was released in 2022 and the song subsequently caused a TikTok frenzy.
SMADA EH OUT EVERYWHERE LFGGG😭! pic.twitter.com/i18ZlXyUBN
— smada eh? (@SuperSmada) October 26, 2023
Listen to the original “Hamba Wena” below.
Deep London has since responded to Smada and threatened legal action.
“The legal action against this @SuperSmada has been taken. This guy will pay … This is copyright infringement,” the South African musician said.
"Some Nigerians lack creativity shame, and it's so sad," the musician added.
Meanwhile, his followers welcomed the legal action and criticised the Nigerian artist for “copying” the South African hit.
@__sugarvenom was amongst them and recently wrote on X: “Bit Boohle's entire flow and didn't bother crediting her. You will feel an unbearable itch in 3 days”.
Another X user, @ValentineTrvth, said: “You people are shameless, and I hope you pay @BoohleSA for stealing her music. The only thing that’s crazy here is you stealing music and acting like you came up with your sh*t by your damn self, talking about life is so crazy.”
Meanwhile, Nigerians remain convinced that the “Smoda Eh” song is better than “Hamba Wena”.
“This isn't copyright Infringement This is creativity. You all can't take Amapiano beat anywhere, let Nigerians do the work for you. I think this sounds more cool than the original version,” said @imperialpresh.