South African singer Tyla has called for the recognition of the Amapiano genre following her win at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.

Tyla made history on Wednesday night at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, held at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, by becoming the first South African to win a VMA in the Afrobeats genre!

Tyla clinched the award for Best Afrobeats with her major hit, “Water,” a track that has garnered over 230 million views on YouTube and nearly 800 million streams on Spotify. This got fans confused because "Water" is an Amapiano track and not Afrobeats ( plus they were Afrobeats artists nominated in the category.

During her acceptance speech, Tyla humorously remarked about the weight of the award. “You guys know me and holding awards, yoh hai. I’m not strong enough,” she said, playfully asking Lil Nas X, who was standing next to Halle Bailey, to hold her trophy for her.

Tyla also acknowledged her roots and the broader Afrobeats community, saying, “I come from South Africa. I represent amapiano. I represent my culture, and I just want to shout out to all the Afrobeats artists in this category with me.”

She mentioned Tems, Ayra Starr, Lojay, Rema, Wizkid, and Burna Boy, concluding with a celebratory “Africa to the world.”

Rema, Musa Keys, Ayra Starr & Davido at the MTV MVA 2024.

What is Amapiano ?

Amapiano is distinguished by piano melodies, deep house, soul, kwaito and log drum basslines. The genre's sample packs often incorporate sounds sourced from gqom music. Bacardi, is often misperceived either as a subgenre of amapiano or having emerged in the 2020s.

A popular element of the genre is the use of the log drum (an electronic version of the West African originating log drum),a wide percussive bassline, which was popularized in amapiano music by several producers such as MDU aka TRP. According to one of the amapiano pioneers, Kabza De Small, he asserts that:

Amapiano Pioneers: Kabza De Small & Dj Maphorisa

"I don't know what happened. I don't know how he figured out the log drum. Amapiano music has always been there, but he's the one who came up with the log drum sound. These boys like experimenting. They always check out new plug-ins. So when MDU figured it out, he ran with it."

The use of an electronic or the log drum sound in African music predates amapiano although the contrary is often misperceived, and was possibly developed from the traditional or acoustic West African log drum by kwaito pioneer M'du (also known as Mdu Masilela).