Swae Lee had South African and Nigerian Twitter users heated after revealing he has a new Amapiano song on the way. On Tuesday (July 11), the “Sunflower” hitmaker tried to drum up some excitement from his fans about his upcoming track. “Wait till y’all hear Swae Lee on Amapiano,” Swae Lee wrote. However, he added the Nigeria flag emoji, leaving many fans convinced Swae misrepresented the genre that originated in South Africa.
Wait till y’all hear Swae Lee on Amapiano 🇳🇬
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 11, 2023
One user replied, “Amapiano belongs to south Africans fam. This is the second international artiste making this mistake. Give the right people their props.”
“I didn’t say it belonged to anyone,” Swae Lee replied before adding, “I’m Nigerian that’s why I put it.”
He also credited South Africans for creating Amapiano and attempted to clarify his previous tweet. “I never said anyone created it in that tweet just said I got amapiano vibes otw and they sound Raw,” he added. “y’all got that one.”
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 11, 2023
However, Swae Lee’s comments also sparked a dispute between fans from both nations debating whether non-South African artists can call their music Amapiano.
In a video response, Swae Lee claimed he didn’t intend to “start division” among the diaspora. He also said he was introduced to Amapiano by Nigerians and gave a nod to his Nigerian heritage.
“That actually just opened my eyes to a whole other problem that we have,” he said. “What’s up with the division? We need to come together and empower each other.”
Swae World Peace 🇿🇦🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/72LpvMry74
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 11, 2023
Swae Lee added, “Bigs up to the South Africans for creating this beautiful s###.”
Check out his other comments and some of the reactions from Nigeria and South African Twitter users below.
I never discredited nobody sorry y’all read it that way I never said anything about it’s origins in that tweet I was just letting my fans know I’m tapped in and been cooking some amapiano style songs salute to the history of amapiano and the first creators of it I’m not taking…
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 12, 2023
Like I said s/O to the originators of amapiano triple salute just know I got some of my vibes OTW !!! Whoever wanna work and create dope s### I don’t care where you from let’s go big ………don’t dig too deep, swae fans you know what it is BE READY!! All over the world 🤞🏽♾️…
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 11, 2023
woooooah I never said anything about who was the first guys I just said wait until y’all hear my amapiano songs 🧐 y’all reached for that one
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 12, 2023
I salute it much respect I’m otw 🇿🇦🫱🏽🫲🏾🇳🇬 hit my email I’m locked in 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/zu32Y1bcaa
— Swae Lee Lee Swae (@SwaeLee) July 12, 2023
If you really want peace .. remove that Jollof flag and put South African flag 🇿🇦 alone
— ChrisExcel (@ChrisExcel102) July 11, 2023
We not friends with Jollof brothers … pic.twitter.com/VXoXLTh2ZH
We are not offended but we need you to acknowledge that "Amapiano" is a South African word , we need you to credit the right country
— Davidsizwe (@Davidsizwe1) July 11, 2023
This has nothing to do with insecurities. Just give the f#####’ credit to where it’s due.
— Vuyo (@Vuyo_Ngc) July 11, 2023
You saying a whole lot of nothing !! We want credit for our genre AMAPIANO that’s it !! 🇿🇦
— Sekzin 🇿🇦 (@Sekzin_sa) July 11, 2023