Author: Habiba Katsha

When the word Amapiano comes to mind, people typically associate the genre with big names like the Major League DJz, Kelvin Momo, Scorpion King (Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa): people who are all men. These men are immensely talented and deserve all the praise, but we should also give women in Amapiano their credit too, women like DBN Gogo. 

Mandisa Radebe, also known as a DBN Gogo, is one of the leading ladies of the South African dance scene. Her single “Khuza Gogo,” featuring Mpura, Ama Avenger, and M.J. went certified platinum in South Africa. Radebe became the first South African DJ to join the Global Equal programme by Spotify in 2021. 

The DJ and artist curated a nine-day Boiler Room event in Johannesburg specifically focusing on increasing diversity and inclusivity in music. Boiler Room hosts online streams and events showcasing the world's best DJs. Radebe's event featured a DJ set from South African artists, live discussions around the industry, and a dance workshop. 

She has contributed two songs to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever album. Recently, she headlined her own set at the Somerset House Summer series in London. 

AMAKA had the pleasure to sit down with Radebe to discuss her career, being a woman in Amapiano, and where she thinks the music genre will be in years to come. 

A Humble Star

Representing AMAKA, I met Radebe at Universal Studios in London, days after her show at Somerset House. The set was nothing short of excellence, with the whole crowd dancing on their feet and wanting more. As she walks in, she’s immediately warm and friendly, greeting myself and the other press. When I ask Radebe about her show at Somerset House, she tells me, “I was so nervous before my set, I thought I was going to throw up, actually.

“I was a little bit late on my way there, or later than I wanted to be. There was a little traffic and I was like panicking. I was like ‘Oh my God are people even there, are they going to come?’”

After seeing videos of the crowd, her worries disappeared.  “I was like, ‘oh people actually pulled up that’s crazy.’ This is a South African female, Black woman DJ headlining in the centre of London, that’s crazy.” 

Radebe was born in Durban, South Africa hence the name DBN Gogo. “I’m from Durban and Gogo means your grandmother, your guide, or your elder.” 

She continues: “So, I sort of put my name together for it to mean a musical ancestor or a spirit guide in the music scene which is also interlinked with the fact that I'm also on my own spiritual journey.” 

Spirituality has impacted Radebe “a great deal” especially in relation to her music. She explained the role of Ubungoma in her life, a traditional healer in South Africa. The name translates to “of song”. A Ubungoma takes you on a spiritual awakening which is somewhat like a camp where you’re taught how to work with herbs and how to interpret bones.  During her childhood, it was during one of these spiritual awakenings that Radebe was told that there would be a gift bestowed upon her: a gift where she would thrive. 

As a child, Radebe says she always had a fascination with music. “I did ballet, I did some piano at some point, singing competitions, I was in a Hip-Hop group, there’s nothing that I didn’t try,” she shares with AMAKA.

But, it wasn’t until 2017 that her friend DJ Venom taught her the basics of DJing. “He taught me how to DJ in a club called Stones in Meville in Johannesburg.  There was never anyone there early so he let me use the equipment. He’s a Hip-Hop DJ so he said I can teach you the basics like beat matching and timing but everything else you’re gonna have to figure out [yourself] and that’s what I did,” Radebe states. 

The Beauty of Amapiano 

Amapiano didn’t exist at the beginning of her career so she played genres like House, Gqom, and BACARDÍ. Genres that all make up what we know as Amapiano today. 

While Radebe is known for her influence in the Amapiano scene, she calls herself a house DJ and thinks making that distinction is important. She says, “Amapiano is dance music, that’s why the tracks are long and the tempo is the way it is.”

She thinks that singling out Amapiano as its own genre limits its growth. “Amapiano has been moving in a very diasporic crowd so towards the Hip-Hop, Afrobeats, and RnB space but it needs to be in the electronic music and dance spaces. It doesn’t have to exist in one space.” 

Although she was born in Durban, she also lived in Pretoria and schooled in Paris which influenced the music she creates. Radebe explains: “Living in different places makes my ear a lot more open to hearing different types of sounds.

“When I was in Paris it was the MTV generation so I was listening to a lot of pop and rock, one of my favorite artists is actually Kylie Minogue.”

She continues: “But in Durban, I was listening to a lot of hard bass. I’m just able to bring different kinds of levels to the music that I make and the music I enjoy. It makes me more open and I don’t want to box myself in.” 

One of Radebe’s well-known songs is Khuza Gogo featuring Mpura, Ama Avenger, and M.J which has over 5 million streams on Spotify.  But she didn’t expect the song to blow up the way it did. “There was even a dance challenge and I think it was one of the first Amapiano dance challenges to go viral,” she tells AMAKA.

The song was titled Khuza Gogo as Radebe is seen as a nurturing figure within her community.  “I was like, we’re all kind of the same age but the guys were like, you’re a motherly figure. When we’re stepping out [of place] or doing something wrong, you put us in our place. But, it’s coming from a place of care not being motherly.” 

Although men are usually the big names in Amapiano, we also can’t minimise what artists like Tyla and Uncle Waffles have done for the scene.

She says, “The biggest songs and the guys with the biggest catalogs are obviously men. Like I’m not going to downplay Kabza De Small’s role. But, the interest of Amapiano comes from the way we (women) have been able to revolutionise it and make people actually want to get involved.” 

Radebe thinks women in Amapiano make the genre sexy. “We make it desirable, attainable, we make it interesting, we make it fun. There is no Amapiano without us.” 

While Amapiano has grown globally, Radebe sees the genre expanding even more. When asked where she sees Amapiano in the future, she says: “We're going to be everywhere, babe.” 

She shares: “We're going to be in Chicago; we're going to be in Miami; we're going to be in Ibiza; we're going back in London. We'll be in Africa even more! You know, I think there's so many places in Africa that we also still need to hit. We’re gonna be in South America, we're gonna be everywhere.”

When it comes to what we can expect from Radebe in the future, she told AMAKA: “More music, more videos and more collaborations. I won't be dropping another album this year, but definitely more singles. More collabs for sure,  I would love to do a Pan African collab, that’s my next wishlist item, and way more music videos.”