Recording
Kaffir
Arthur Mafokate
Independently chosen for4 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.
- Released
- 1995
- On
- Kwaito, Dancing to Bad News, The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
- Updated
- 2026-08-29
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
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 4.4 dB
- compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- Length
- 5:12
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintrobar -8
- 0:27Bbuildbar 5
- 1:00Bpeakbar 21
- 1:34Bpeakbar 38
- 2:16Bsteadybar 58
- 2:50Cbreakdownbar 75
- 3:14Dpeakbar 87
- 3:30Bpeakbar 94
- 4:12Ebuildbar 115
- 4:37Bsteadybar 127
Drop at 0:18 (bar 1). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:27
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 6
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:33
- Energy
- 83
- Brightness
- 72
- Density
- 86
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:34
- Energy
- 98
- Brightness
- 35
- Density
- 75
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:41
- Energy
- 95
- Brightness
- 42
- Density
- 75
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:34
- Energy
- 88
- Brightness
- 36
- Density
- 53
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:24
- Energy
- 35
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung
- Lasts
- 0:16
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 52
- Density
- 74
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:42
- Energy
- 89
- Brightness
- 52
- Density
- 75
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:25
- Energy
- 79
- Brightness
- 18
- Density
- 36
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:34
- Energy
- 82
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 77
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- 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
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in 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
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
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
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.