DJ Lag

DJ Lag is one of the pioneers of gqom, a form of tense, minimalist electronic dance music which originated in Durban, South Africa during the early 2010s. The genre became a mainstream sensation in his home country around 2016, yet at this time, Lag was becoming more successful abroad, touring across the globe and having his music released by British record labels; his self-titled debut EP included his signature track, “Ice Drop.” A few years later, he released EPs on Hyperdub and Diplo’s Good Enuff imprint, and received major worldwide exposure through his appearance on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack in 2019. On Lag’s 2022 debut full-length, Meeting with the King, he fused gqom with the slower amapiano sound that sharply risen in popularity during the previous few years.
Lwazi Asanda Gwala was born in Clermont, a township of Durban, in 1995. He started producing hip-hop as a teenager, but quickly became interested in house and started making dance music. Preferring darker tracks with broken beat patterns, he connected with producers in other townships who were making similar sounds, and the gqom scene was born. His tracks started getting played at local parties, and through blogs and apps, his music spread far and wide, quickly earning attention from several U.K. DJs. In late 2016, London’s Goon Club Allstars released DJ Lag’s self-titled EP, which included “Ice Drop,” a track he had written when he was 17. It was the first gqom track to be made into a music video, and he played it during every show as he began touring throughout Europe and Asia, starting with a set at the Unsound Festival in Poland. He released the EP Trip to New York in 2017, initially through WhatsApp.
While gqom was becoming popular in South Africa, as Babes Wodumo and Okmalumkoolkat scored huge radio hits, Lag was getting far more work overseas than at home. Distruction Boyz released a major hit called “Omunye” which was built on an instrumental track nearly identical to Lag’s “Trip to New York,” causing Lag to pursue legal action and eventually earn a songwriting credit. Stampit, his second Goon Club Allstars EP, was released in 2018. One of its tracks, “Drumming,” was reworked as “My Power,” a song from Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack (2019), which additionally featured Nija, Busiswa, Yemi Alade, Tierra Whack, and Moonchild Sanelly. The same year, Lag released EPs on Hyperdub (Steam Rooms, with Okzharp) and Mad Decent sublabel Good Enuff (Uhuru). He also recorded “Anywhere We Go,” a collaboration with South African pop star Shekhinah, for an Adidas ad campaign.
Continuing to embrace a more vocal-heavy gqom sound, as opposed to his earlier instrumentals, Lag released tracks with NOTA (“Jungle”) and DJ Tira (“Siyagroova”) in 2020. Later in the year, another one of his older tracks was lifted. DJ Megan Ryte and will.i.am released a single called “Culture,” additionally featuring A$AP Ferg, and were met with accusations of plagiarizing Lag’s signature track “Ice Drop.” The Black Eyed Peas founder offered an apology, and the track was subsequently removed from streaming services. Lag released collaborations with Lady Du and Sinjin Hawke in 2021, as he prepared for the release of his debut full-length. Meeting with the King was issued through Black Major and Lag’s own Ice Drop in 2022. The album was a hybrid of his signature gqom style and the slower, smoother amapiano sound which had taken over South Africa, and it featured collaborations with Mr. JazziQ, Babes Wodumo, Mampintsha, and others. ~ Paul Simpson