The Waxonia Desk on Gqom
Six records tracing how a Durban sound left the city — the first one on national radio, the one that reached London before it was accepted at home, and the one that turned its rhythms into outright pop.
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Babes Wodumo featuring Mampintsha / Wololo
The first gqom record on national radio, and the week a local secret stopped being one. Everything about how the scene made its money is different on the other side of it.
Rudeboyz featuring TD Snax / Mercedes
The record that reached London first, on a British label. Being heard abroad before being accepted at home is the oldest distortion in dance music, and gqom got it early.
Griffit Vigo / Come to Durban
The producer's producer, from the compilation that named the sound overseas. The export edition of a scene is always somebody's shortlist, and this is the record that makes the shortlist look right.
Distruction Boyz featuring Benny Maverick and Dladla Mshunqisi / Omunye
The genre's biggest hit, and a credit dispute the producers pursued and won. Both belong on the record: this is what it looks like when a scene's paperwork catches up with its music.
Sho Madjozi / John Cena
Gqom's rhythmic ideas turned into outright pop in Xitsonga. Whether that is the sound escaping or the sound being spent is the argument the genre is still having with itself.
Arthur Mafokate / Kaffir
Here for the inheritance rather than the moment. Kwaito is what Durban's producers were working after, and whether gqom continued it or replaced it has never been settled by anyone.