Characteristics
The kwaito sound originated from the use of European instruments that Black African laborers had at their disposal after gold was found in Johannesburg. Another common characteristic is the dialogue between a man and a woman with the woman largely repeating the man's lines. It is predominantly dance music with light subject matter. Kwaito is also usually not sung, but is usually rhythmic speech.
Kwaito performances require the audience to interact through verbal responses. This is done in a call-and-response manner. The artist engages the listener, who in turn listens attentively and responds when required. It is also sung in one of South Africa’s languages, which include Afrikaans, Zulu, and English. This makes it even more popular with its audience.
Instrumentally, Kwaito music is easily recognized for its use of slowed-down house-music beats, with the kick drum emphasizing each beat in the 4/4 time signature, which is commonly called four-on-the-floor. Although it draws its most noticeable characteristics from house music, Kwaito also draws upon the musical landscape that was popular in South Africa during the early 1990s, which included disco, hip-hop, and contemporary R&B, among other genres.
One characteristic that still is up for debate is whether or not to consider kwaito a mainly South African phenomenon. While many believe that it is a distinctly home-grown style of popular dance music that is rooted in Johannesburg urban culture and features rhythmically recited vocals over an instrumental backing with strong bass lines, it is still argued whether or not this is actually true because of how recently the music has hit the scene and some of the inspirations from which it is gathered. The debate is that it is largely influenced by music types from the United States of America or the United Kingdom. Therefore, some people believe, even though the roots of it are based in the movements by Mandela and the upheaval at the time, that it is not fully of South African origin. We can see the influence that American Hip Hop music has had on Kwaito most visibly in the use of gold as a symbol of power. Kwaito artists will wear gold and diamonds, completely ignoring its gruesome history and connection to South Africa, in order to portray a rags-to-riches story like many hip hop artists do. Consumption of gold and diamonds, while at the same time saying you represent your people, is very similar to the problematic rhymes of many American hip hop artists who glorify the drug trade but claim that they want to improve the living standards in their communities. Furthermore, many Kwaito artists would sell their records out of the trunk of their cars, a long-honored underground form of selling records that was common among many fledgling hip hop artists.
It is also important to incorporate the attitude that Kwaito musicians have. Many critics have a very biased and Western point of view on the genre. Kwaito rose from a ghetto culture, and most critics always look at Kwaito in a cultural-studies context rather than looking at the ethnomusicology side. What makes Kwaito stick out is the fact that the music is always associated with a cultural context that brings out some extra meanings and messages. Furthermore, Kwaito is considered by some critics as the aggressive township music. In South Africa, some Kwaito music producers say that the genre is comparable to hip hop; it is only comparable because it has become more than just a genre of music but rather a movement in which people can create their own identities with their own values.
As Thokozani Mhlambi states in his article Kwaitofabulous, "In kwaito music, the emphasis lies not in the poetic essence of the lyrics but rather in the instrumental arrangement and the ‘danceability’ of the composition. Therefore I disagree with writers such as Maria McCloy, the author of ‘'Kwaito: Its history and where it’s at now’', who criticize kwaito, claiming that very little time and effort is put into kwaito production.... This criticism overlooks the music’s multiple social contexts such as parties, street bashes, and clubs. These are social venues where people are more in pursuit of leisure than engaging in intellectual discourse." Ironically, not only does Kwaito resist a sense of Western based oppression by remaining apolitical, but it also resists trends and Western influence in and of itself via mode of production. Kwaito, as Mhlambi affrirms, has remained the music of its people, which is the music of the South African youth after the struggle who wish to pursue rest and relaxation as opposed to dwelling on the past. The term kwaito is a clear sign that oppression is not something to be, or that will be forgotten. The danceability and poetry inherent to kwaito, however, shows a reversion to better times—to cultural integrity. Through kwaito music, artists and youths collaborate to create, through music and dance, a realm where the struggle does not exist.
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