Amapiano music is a hybrid of deep house, jazz and lounge music characterized by synths, airy pads and wide and percussive basslines. It is distinguished by high-pitched piano melodies, Kwaito basslines, low tempo 90s South African house rhythms and percussions from another local subgenre of house known as Bacardi. Download amapiano songs

Although the genre gained popularity in Gauteng, there's a lot of ambiguity concerning its origins, with various accounts of the musical styles in the Johannesburg townships - Soweto, Alexandra, Vosloorus and Katlehong. Because of the genre's similarities with Barcadi, some people assert the genre began in Pretoria and has been an on going debate about the origin of Amapiano.

Various accounts as to who formed the popular genre make it impossible to accurately pinpoint its origins.[