DJ Lag is the South African Gqom artist making an Impact

Impact is a series that's dedicated to profiling raw talent that's about to turn dance music on its head. Next up: DJ Lag

In the middle of a WhatsApp conversation with DJ Lag, he sends me a 15-second video. A mass of people move rapidly in unison, their arms wildly flailing around with the flexibility of inflatable waving tube men in time to the sound of Gqom being played. This is the reaction that the heavily percussive form of dance music hailing from Durban has been getting in Europe. DJ Lag is one of the genre’s most prominent producers.

While to some it may seem as if he’s popped out of nowhere, he’s been making music from a young age and building up a reputation in South Africa. He’s also known as the King of Gqom, a pioneer in a movement that has stretched from its South African origins to audiences across the globe. The internet has been a particularly essential component to his and other Gqom producer’s sounds, turning minds inside out within the past year.

Like many of Gqom’s producers, his music has been played at house parties and distributed personally via online channels such as Soundcloud. That is, up until this point. Having previously picked up on the sounds of Durban with a release from South African house trio Rudeboyz, London imprint Goon Club Allstars has released DJ Lag’s self-titled debut EP. It’s the first collection of his music to be released on vinyl. The 4-tracker is dark, tense in atmosphere and full of stunted vocal clips that barely last a breath and tightly contained drum hits. A fluid continuation from the sparse, high-energy cuts he’s been sharing online such as ‘Zoo’, DJ Lag demonstrates that this is merely the beginning for Gqom’s world domination.

Read a Q+A with Lag and listen to an exclusive mix below.

When was the first time that you thought about making gqom and using fruity loops to make music?

It was 2011 when I heard Naked Boyz 'Ithoyizi'. That was the first broken beat track I heard so I wanted to do something similar to them but I ended up doing something way different than what Naked Boys and Rudeboyz were doing. I was doing hip hop before I started doing Gqom so my tracks have little elements of hip hop.

You’re releasing your self-titled EP through Goon Club Allstars – who also released the Rudeboyz EP. This is your first physically distributed release from a label. What was the process of having this EP signed?

I’m happy to see Gqom on vinyl because it’s something [previously only] being distributed online. My music was being played a lot in the UK so Felix from Goon Club Allstars was the one who inboxed me on Facebook 2 years ago and told me wanted to do an EP release so that’s when I started working with Goon Club.

When it came to making the self-titled EP for Goon Club, what was the recording process like and what were you aiming for it to sound like?

I didn’t have any aim, I just made the tracks for fun and people ended up loving what I’m doing then the guys from Goon Club wanted to release the tracks. I produced all the tracks at my bedroom studio, I had the tracks ready around 2014 but it was hard to send the files to Goon Club. The Internet is very bad at the townships so I had to go to town if I wanted to send the files. It’s easy now; I just use my friend’s Wi-Fi.

You make music using Fruity Loops, was that all you used to make the tracks on this?

I don’t have much equipment. It’s just a laptop with headphones and I only use Fruity Loops for producing.

When it comes to gqom parties in Durban where are the significant places to go to experience it?

Club 101 and Havana. These are the best clubs for gqom in Durban, that’s where most of the producers were made.

You’ve been playing internationally a lot lately – including playing at Berghain. How did it feel to play there?

Well it was really cool. People responded well to my music, it was a 3-hour set of non-stop, hardcore Gqom. I was super excited when I heard that I was gonna be performing there. It was my first time [in Berghain]. The crowd goes crazy in the EU because it’s something new for them so they respond in a different way than the crowd from Durban. I don’t know how to explain it but the crowd just goes nuts.

In contrast, what happens when you play in Durban?

In Durban people love dancing so when there’s gonna be a dance battle on the dancefloor for sure. [The dancers] make a circle in the dancefloor and start battling; the dance name is called Durban Bang.

For a lot of people over here, Gqom Oh! Is the extent of what they know about gqom but there’s so much more going on.

People tend to say, "Good music are those tracks that make you travel without moving" which is more like deep house. Gqom Oh! represents a lot of the underground producers in Durban and has put them out on a compilation – spread their sound internationally. The compilation and all the mixes Malumz Kolè did helps a lot of spreading the sound of Gqom and the Gqom movement and culture all over the world. Gqom is growing. It’s starting to be played on radio, even the big names from South Africa are starting to get into Gqom like Babes Wodumo, Okmalumkoolkat, Cassper Nyovest and Big Nuz. Babes Wodumo is working with the Gqom producers and becoming very popular and Okmalumkoolkat has worked with Gqom a lot in the last two years. He started playing Gqom in London and people loved it then other DJs started listening to the music. I think that’s why it got loved so fast.

I saw that you said that people used to be annoyed when Gqom would get played – what do you think changed?

Yes because of how it used to be at the start. It makes me laugh because people started realising that gqom is being played on the UK radio and clubs, and then they started to love it. Most people just dance to a track if other people love it in my point of view. It’s weird; maybe they didn’t think it could make it this far. I actually don't mind because in the end I've had those who felt and heard me pumping some Gqom music and that's when those who weren't dancing start understanding and appreciating it and the space given to them to physically dance to it.

In Durban, do people find Gqom through the internet or word of mouth or through your parties?

Yes we distributed Gqom via internet social media and people usually made house parties/street bashes where new house music or the latest Gqom tracks were being played and from them after it would travel through word of mouth. Some were after parties, some are just house parties done when schools are closing. A lot of high school students were the ones who supported Gqom a lot but now everyone likes Gqom.

The 'DJ Lag' EP is out now

Aurora Mitchell is a freelance journalist based in London. Follow her on Twitter