Meeting with the King

DJ Lag is the pioneer of gqom, and since 2016 he’s helped transport the genre from Durban townships to dancefloors all over the world, even collaborating on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift. But rather than sticking to the style he created, DJ Lag has continued to develop his sound, incorporating elements of amapiano, Afro House, Afro Tech and even trap. His openness and penchant for collaboration are obvious on his first full length album Meeting With the King, which feels like a boundaryless celebration of South African dance music and the community that foster it: on “Khavude” he collaborates with legendary amapiano producer Mr JazziQ and late rapper Mpura, whose self assured, calm vocals are contrasted by urgent synths and sirens; opener “Thongo Lami’’ is an amapiano-infused, melodic jam carried by Ndoni’s  powerful vocals, while on the darker “Chaos” he works with some of Durban’s newest gqom producers. The title Meeting With the King might sound a bit egotistical, but here DJ Lag is anything but.