Meaning "drum" in Zulu, gqom is dance music at its purest: raw and repetitive party tracks brimming with the energy of Durban's townships and clubs. As a lean, jacking development of South African house and kwaito, an inspired, DIY gqom sound started to spread via WhatsApp groups in the early 2010s, becoming a predominant force in the city's underground. But it wasn't until Babes Wodumo & Mampintsha's "Wololo" and Lag's own "Ice Drop" that word travelled further.

Fast forward five years and gqom has appeared in The Lion King, been sampled by Will.i.am, soundtracked an NBA match, shaken up festivals worldwide and paved the way for a more melodic strand of South African club music, amapiano, to take hold. Alongside the likes of music duo Distruction Boyz and Tsonga vocalist Sho Madjozi, DJ Lag has been at the forefront of the genre's rise, with non-stop touring and high-profile collaborations helping to lift up others in the scene. Even as gqom goes global, projects like Lag's Something For Clermont parties keep the sound local to the township where he grew up.

How did gqom reach such heights and who were the main players along the way? Before his debut album marks another key moment in the genre's development, DJ Lag explains its meteoric ascent and the songs that defined the gqom canon.

Babes Wodumo, Mampintsha - Wololo (2016)

This was the first gqom track to become mainstream in South Africa. It wasn't the very first gqom track with vocals, but Babes Wodumo took it to the next level. Even people from outside of South Africa started recognising the sound because of her performance on that song. Babes is an amazing dancer and incredible performer, when she gets on stage people go crazy.

Our music started being played on the radio and this track was on the Black Panther movie soundtrack. That was the start of things going bigger for the genre. The name, "Wololo," is the sound people in Durban shout when they're dancing. Babes is featured on my new album on a track called "Ikhehla." In South Africa she is still considered a superstar even though she hasn't been releasing as much music recently.

DJ Lag - Ice Drop (2016)

This was the main track from my first EP released by London-based record label Goon Club All Stars. I was still in high school and Moleskin from GCAS was sending me Facebook messages saying he wanted to release my music. I ignored him for two years thinking he wanted to steal my music, but he waited patiently. Once I had management in place, I felt ready to make the step forward. I was only 17 when I wrote the track, while living in a shack in a South African township, using two small speakers and a laptop. I am proud of this track and not only because it was good enough to be "borrowed" by a global superstar eight years after I made it, but also because it was the beginning of my career.

I produced "Ice Drop" after being heavily influenced from my time producing hip hop. It is interesting that the samples used here are hip-hop samples blended in the gqom beat. "Ice Drop" was also the first gqom track which had a music video. It was the first opportunity for the rest of the world to see how we danced and partied to this new sound that was emerging.

The same year I released "Ice Drop," I started touring around the world. I did a two-month tour in Asia and Europe…I don't know how many countries it was. I played "Ice Drop" every single show. I still do now. If you know me, you know "Ice Drop."

Distruction Boyz, Benny Maverick, Dladla Mshunqisi - Omunye (2017)

In 2017, Distruction Boyz left Mampintsha's label and went to DJ Tira's label for their album Gqom Is The Future. "Omunye" was on that album. Yo! It was huge. We kept going up. It was the song of the year in 2017. The whole of Africa was playing it.

This track actually came from my track "Trip To New York." Distruction Boyz bought a beat from a guy who had copied "Trip To New York." I was friends with him, so I was shocked when I heard "Omunye". After four years, I've just won the case in court. It was a long road and at times difficult because this was the biggest song in the country. It won South African Music Awards and many other awards. Everyone was dancing to "Omunye" in 2018.

"Trip to New York" was the beginning of the era of using plugins instead of only Fruity Loops samples.

Distruction Boyz - Madness (Instrumental) (2017)

This was on the same album as "Omunye." I used to play it a lot on tours. The beat was released before the album and it became big. Then when they released Gqom Is The Future they added a vocal version with the singer-songwriter Tipcee.

Sho Madjozi - Huku (2018)

I first met Sho Madjozi through Okmalumkoolkat. She used to come to the club and just rap when people were DJing. Next thing, we were on the same lineup at Unsound festival. They asked if we would perform together, so we practiced and got to know each other. This song, "Huku," became big for her, especially in the United States. She took gqom onto TV in the US. She is extremely unique, smart, talented, authentic to her roots and proudly African. She is one of the strongest ambassadors of our music to the world. What is interesting here is that she blended gqom with her Tsonga heritage. She is from the province of Limpopo, north of Johannesburg. She raps in Tsonga and was the first artist to do that on a gqom beat. Obviously her vocal performance here and the catchy "Huku" lyrics are a big part of the success of this song and I would say the beat works to make the most of that.

DJ Maphorisa, DJ Raybel - iWalk Ye Phara (feat. Moonchild Sanelly, K.O & Zulu Mkhatini) (2018)

Everything is just perfect on this song. It has three of the best rappers in South Africa. Raybel, who produced the beat, lives close to my township, Clermont. I knew this guy a long time ago. We used to DJ in the same club. He started working with Maphorisa and they made this song. It became so big they even played it at an NBA match. That was a huge deal for gqom, even though probably no Americans knew what the song was about. They're singing about a type of walk that amaphara—which means something like "crack head"—do when they’re high.

This was gqom traveling to the north of the country, Johannesburg, and doing its thing there. Maphorisa is a legend, he has been able to keep up with the times and keep producing bangers. I also love Moonchild's performance on this track. It is so naive and almost child-like. Her vocal performances are always so real and effortless and she is a machine with music. She writes fast and writes a lot.

Griffit Vigo - Ree’s Vibe (2018)

I've been playing this song for more than ten years, and every time people go mad. When I did the tour with DJ, producer, and Gqom Oh! label owner Nan Kolè, I would make sure I would play this as the last song. It was always the one that killed it. I don't know what Griffit did with this track! It's insane.

Griffit Vigo is from the same township as me. I think he made this in 2010, around the time we would share music through these WhatsApp groups. We would have thousands of people in the groups, so when you posted a good beat there, it would become big in Durban. When I started touring, I still had this track and kept playing it. That’s when Nan Kolè asked for it for Gqom Oh!

This track is so stripped down. So basic and raw. No messing around. A sequence of percussion sounds that all make sense next to each other. It is hard and made for late night sets. It is very interesting as a first introduction to the origins of gqom.

Prince Kaybee, Busiswa, TNS - Banomoya (2018)

Prince Kaybee is a huge producer in South Africa, so this collaboration was a game changer for the producer TNS. It was song of the year in 2018. We have a radio station called Ukhozi FM. On New Year's Eve, they play all the biggest tracks of the year and you vote on your phone which was the best.

TNS focused primarily on gqom, but with "Banomoya" he started to change his sound and make it more melodic for radio. They don't like the rough stuff on the radio in South Africa. "Ice Drop"? You will never hear it on the radio.

This song is where afrotech met gqom. It established Busiswa as one of the most important gqom vocalists.

Manqonqo, Dason, Saviour Gee - Eyadini (2018)

This song is about a club in Durban called Eyadini. The club used to book a lot of gqom DJs. If you performed there, for sure you were going to be well known. This song was thanking Eyadini for giving us an opportunity.

You can hear that there are melodies similar to what you hear in afrohouse. The synths and piano chords are also very similar to afrohouse, but the beat is still gqom. It is an interesting combination that takes the edge off gqom and you can hear that it would appeal to a massive afrohouse audience here in South Africa.

Nija, Beyoncé, Yemi Alade, DJ Lag, Moonchild Sanelly, Tierra Whack, Busiswa - MY POWER (2019)

This was life-changing for me. It started when Beyoncé came down for Global Citizen in 2018. She was performing in Jo'burg, and it was shown on TV. I came back from a gig and was partying with friends at my granny's house when my phone started going crazy. My manager Sevi called me and said, "Lwazi, did you see the videos of Beyoncé playing 'Trip To New York’ on her show?" I checked my phone and the video was trending on Twitter! It was at the height of the friction on my song being copied so having the Queen make a call on it was news that South Africa could not get enough of!

The next day, Kwazi Fordjour, Beyonce's creative director, called me and came down to Durban to meet me. He told me Beyoncé was working on an album and wanted some beats. He didn't mention it was for The Lion King. Two months later, they [Beyoncé's producers] saw I was on tour in the US and they invited me to come and finish the track. Beyoncé had already recorded on it, and the other vocalists had sent their parts. There were all these different studios and different people working on it at the same time. It was a fine experience to see that!

Musically I think the drums are what drive this track. The original beat was called "Drumming;" I had released it as part of my second EP and did a video with Moses Boyd who is the most talented drummer in my view. I love the way we made the different vocals work on the beat. And there couldn't be a better name for the track.