2025 video still: CIZA - ISAKA (6AM) ft. Jazzworx & Thukuthela (Official Music Video) — CIZA / YouTube
3-step vocalist
Thukuthela comes from Daveyton, the township on the eastern Witwatersrand established in 1952 for Black mineworkers, and out of its amapiano vocal lineage. He meets producer JAZZWRLD through their manager, Neo Makate, drawn — as he tells OkayAfrica — to the way the producer designs his sounds. Together they anchor 3-step, the strain of South African dance music running between Afro-house and amapiano.
His voice carries Ciza's "Isaka (6am)" through nine weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's South Africa Songs chart in 2025, and by the end of that year five of his songs with JAZZWRLD have reached No. 1 across Southern Africa. "Uzizwa Kanjani", with MaWhoo and GL_Ceejay, and "Bengicela" stand among the pair's signature records. In March 2026 the duo plays the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
JAZZWRLD and Thukuthela’s BET Awards presence was not about collecting a trophy. It was about 3-Step becoming visible in global media rooms while carrying its South African centre with it.
Thatohatsi’s “Ama Hem Hem” with Sjava and ShaunMusiQ turns a seven-minute single into a cinematic statement about patience, mood and visual music identity.
Apple Music and Shazam are showing two different sides of South African music consumption: what people repeatedly stream, and what they urgently want to identify when a song catches them in real life.
SAMA32’s shortlist shows a South African music industry no longer defined by one centre. From Durban Gqom to Maskandi, Amapiano, Jazz, Gospel and regional scenes, the country’s sound is spreading power across many hubs.
Jazzwrld is billed alongside Thukuthela for the first full live-band edition of the We'R Afro tour in Africa, from 18:00 at Uhuru Gardens. Further guests were still to be announced at the time of listing.
Jazzwrld and Thukuthela return to London for a larger headline show after selling out Village Underground in May 2026. Doors 22:00 to 04:00, last entry 02:00, 18+.
