‘Gatekeeping culture’: Kaybee on the Nigerian Amapiano debate

It was a rough day for American musician Swae Lee who was unexpectedly bombarded with angry tweets from South Africans. It all started when the Unforgettable hitmaker tweeted about amapiano and added the Nigerian flag emoji to his tweet. Many locals took offence and headed to the comment section to call the rapper out for crediting the wrong country for the rise of amapiano.

And now local hitmaker Prince Kaybee has headed online to blast those South Africans who he says are trying to “gatekeeper culture”.

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Kaybee shares thoughts on Nigerian amapiano saga

South Africans are all hot and bothered after US star Swae Lee — real name Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown — credited Nigerians for the rise of amapiano music.

In fact, so many of them blasted the musician that he later took to the app to ask Africans to stand together.

The conversation is still trending on social media as South Africans demand credit for amapiano music.

And now Prince Kaybee has joined in on the debate.

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Gatekeeping culture?

According to him, locals should be okay with not being credited for bringing the music genre to life because it shouldn’t matter as long as the culture keeps growing.

He also mentioned how South Africans never give credit to the originators of house music.

“We are not the originators of House Music and the reason why I’m successful today is because of it. You cannot gate keep culture or else it won’t grow. Without interpretation from someone outside what you have started there is no room for growth.

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“Never has any South African Dj credited the originators of House Music in Chicago when they drop music, infact they put the South African Flag and say South Africa to the world. Let people explore how ever they want, if they don’t mention the originators it doesn’t matter, the culture is growing,” he said.

We are not the originators of House Music and the reason why I’m successful today is because of it. You cannot gate keep culture or else it won’t grow. Without interpretation from someone outside what you have started there is no room for growth. Never has any South African Dj..

— K A B I L L I O N (@PrinceKaybee_SA) July 12, 2023

Locals had varying reactions to Kaybee’s thoughts on the matter and appear to mostly disagree with him.

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