# Arthur Mafokate — Kaffir Arthur Mafokate’s Kaffir (1995) appears on 4 of our lists — Kwaito, Dancing to Bad News, The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, highest at No. 1 in Kwaito. Every verdict, in full. - **Released:** 1995 - **On:** Kwaito, Dancing to Bad News, The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Artist:** [Arthur Mafokate](https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/) - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/ ## What 4 lists say ### No. 1 in [Kwaito](https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/) A dance record built around a plea not to be called a slur, and the first real controversy of the new South Africa. Sold over half a million copies and defined what the genre was allowed to be about. ### Picked by [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/) A dance record whose hook is a plea not to be called a slur, released a year after the first free election. Half a million copies sold to people moving to it, and the first serious argument the new country had about its own pop music. ### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban/) 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. ### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/) A dance record built around a plea not to be called a slur, and the first real argument of the new South Africa. Half a million copies, and a genre given its subject. ## Analysis 10 sections, the first drop at 0:18, 6% of the way in, 19% of it spent climbing. - **Tempo:** 117.5 BPM — holds throughout - **Key:** B minor - **Dynamic range:** 4.4 dB — compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud - **Length:** 5:12 - `0:00` A · **intro** (bar -8), instrumental — opens the record below its own average energy — playing: bass - `0:27` B · **build** (bar 5), instrumental — energy and brightness climbing without a break — playing: drums, bass, vocals - `1:00` B · **peak** (bar 21), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, vocals - `1:34` B · **peak** (bar 38), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, vocals - `2:16` B · **steady** (bar 58), sung — holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling — playing: drums, bass, vocals - `2:50` C · **breakdown** (bar 75), instrumental — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass - `3:14` D · **peak** (bar 87), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, vocals - `3:30` B · **peak** (bar 94), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, vocals - `4:12` E · **build** (bar 115), instrumental — energy and brightness climbing without a break — playing: drums, bass, vocals, other - `4:37` B · **steady** (bar 127), instrumental — holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling — playing: drums, bass, vocals **Drop** at 0:18 (bar 1). A drop is a moment, not a stretch. **What is playing.** Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names. - **drums:** the drum kit, separated from the mix - **bass:** the bass part, separated from the mix - **vocals:** the voice, separated from the mix - **other:** everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings Measured from the YouTube master on 2026-08-29. Section labels describe how the energy moves, not musical form. Anything we were not confident enough to state is omitted rather than hedged. ## Listen [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.