Nota Baloyi Calls Out Maskandi Bots Vs Lekompo Bullets in Streaming Storm
- Big Zulu's Maskandi anthems are smashing stream records, but fans cried foul over suspected bot farms pumping fake millions of artificial hype
- Lekompo's Shebeshxt, alleged legal woes fuelled the genre's bad rep
- Nota Baloyi's viral jab at "Maskandi streaming farms… Lekompo catching charges" racked 46k views, with Mzansi users picking sides in a fiery fusion feud
Source: Instagram
Mzansi's music trenches are heating up faster than a Jozi summer, with Nota's razor-sharp X post yesterday igniting a cross-genre cage match between Maskandi heavyweights and Lekompo upstarts.
The tweet dropped like a diss track, complete with a clip that's got timelines buzzing. Clocking 46k views, 462 likes, and 34 replies in under 24 hours, it's the soundtrack to SA's streaming scandals and street-level savagery. But what's the beef? It's a tale of two sounds: one accused of faking fame, the other facing real firepower.
See the full post below:
Big Zulu, who recently shared the stage with Sjava, has turned Maskandi (SA's guitar-strummed Zulu folk-rap hybrid) into a chart-crushing colossus. Since his 2018 breakout Ushun Wenkabi, the Nkabi Records boss has bagged five South African Music Awards, including Album of the Year for Ungqongqoshe Wongqongqoshe (2021).
His 2025 drop, Icala Le Mpumelelo, is already a sensation, with tracks like the cheekily titled "Lekompo" (nodding to the rival genre) racking millions on Spotify.
Numbers are not numbering
The internet is side eyeing those numbers. As one X user, @mtakaMJ, noted:
"That's why Big Zulu has a million views on songs we've never even heard of."
The user's comment is a nod to "streaming farms", that is, shady ops using bots or paid clickers in rural setups to inflate plays, netting royalties while dodging real radio spins.
The scam's no newbie; a 2024 podcast episode of 0 FKS straight-up called out Big Zulu amid broader artist exposes, and with Maskandi stars like Mzukulu hitting 700k streams in days on Ngifuna Intozami (October 2025), suspicions simmer.
Big Zulu's camp stays mum, so far, but critics say it's killing organic growth.
Flip the script to Lekompo, a vibrant, energetic style from Limpopo that blends traditional rhythms with modern elements like house, disco, and hip hop. Pioneered in the early 2000s, it's exploding in 2025, with TikTok fusions like Lekompo Maskandi remixes going viral.
One of the genre's popular faces currently is Shebeshxt, the 30-year-old Polokwane firebrand Lehlogonolo Katlego Chauke, who is reportedly fully booked for the festive season.
Source: Instagram
Nota Baloyi is often followed by controversy
In other Entertainment News, the outspoken and often controversial former music executive, Nota, reportedly rubbed off fans the wrong way after he made an insensitive comment. Briefly News previously reported that Nota was dragged for an insensitive joke about a former Miss SA.
At the time of the news, Netizens had come out guns blazing in defense of the woman and saying the joke was "low" even for Nota.
Source: Briefly News
