Amapiano heavyweights Mellow & Sleazy, DK YK Mule remix Smada’s ‘Ye Anthem’
DK YK Mule and Mellow & Sleazy have remixed Ye Anthem’, the single from rising Nigerian Alté artist Smada.
A turbo-charged, club-ready rework, the DK YK Mule remix is brimming with danceable energy. Meanwhile, the Mellow & Sleazy is far more groove-laden, accentuating the graceful emotion of the original with the energy and warmth we’ve come to expect from the South African duo’s productions.
Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Smada is widely known for his genre-bending music that easily flows between Afro-pop, indie and trap. As the last born of five children, his music journey kicked off in 2018 and since then Smada has generated a unique discography. A few singles and two EPs later, he has amassed over 500,000 streams across all platforms. A rising star in the Alté music scene made popular by artists like Odunsi (The Engine) and Cruel Santino, Smada has just signed a deal with NATIVE records, with ‘Ye Anthem’ the first in an exciting series of releases planned on the label, as his sound looks set to propel globally in 2023. He represents the Gen-Z Nigerian and his fanbase continues to grow with him as he cements himself as a rising star in Africa.
YK Mule is the current poster boy of cruise music, Nigeria’s wildest new genre. Emerging from the outer areas of Lagos, cruise (sometimes called freebeat) is a hyper new rave sound that has started to blow up across West Africa. Taken from a fusion of amapiano, gqom, house, techno, EDM, afrobeats and meme culture, the tracks hammer along at more than 130 BPM, with little respect paid to traditional 4/4 structure. Spread online by TikTok dancers, shared via WhatsApp or super low res music blogs, the sound has now found a regular home in the early hours at Lagos’ New Shrine, where the earth shattering crashes, hyped up log drums and relentlessly triggered samples send the crowds into a dance frenzy.
Born and raised in Pretoria, nobody has done more to define the current sound of amapiano than Mellow & Sleazy. Having written key hits for the likes of Pabi Cooper, Focalistic, Daliwonga, Ch’cco, Sha Sha and many more, they are without doubt the go-to hitmakers of the current era, known for combining the rhythmic sensibilities of Pretoria’s Bacardi house sound into a new format.
Two of the continent’s most exciting musical acts remix this epic track.
To find out more about Smada, go to: Instagram | Spotify
