If the success of their hit cross-continental collab, “Nakupenda,” had you thinking that South African DJ duo, TxC, had forgotten their roots, their new extended play, ‘Strata,’ is soul-infused dedication to the pulse of their motherland. “It’s very important for us to just always touch base back here and make everybody know that as much as we’re outside and we travel and we do all these amazing things in the world, home is always where the heart is.,” they told Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio. 

Boasting contributions from some of the best vocalists, songwriters, and producers out of the Rainbow Nation, TxC’s latest project continues their dalliance with Amapiano, putting a modernist spin on the popular sound without diluting its essence. “We have so much talent out there and I want people to just see that the streets of South Africa are popping,” they affirm. “If you listen to the project as a whole, you’ll see the bigger picture of it all and how it all flows in together. It’s a good time, it’s a feel good EP. If you just want to relax, let your hair down and just have a good time, this is the EP for you.”

This conversation has been edited for clarity. 

What’s the significance of ‘Strata‘?

Strata, derives from the streets.  The streets of South Africa that’s got us the way we are today. The streets where Amapiano started, you know, Amapiano started in the streets within the townships and it’s fully indulged within the culture of South Africa. So that’s why with this current EP, it’s kind of like a homage back home for everybody that supported us, for everybody that’s got us the way we are today. We had to do something for the streets, for our people of South Africa.

What’s the importance of keys?

Keys are so important [for our music], it just gives the soul and the depth to it. It’s something that we always try to make prevalent and out there to make sure that our keys are present. Coming from our hit “Nakupenda” that was more of us collaborating with outside, now we’ve kept everything at home internally with all the artists and the producers, vocalists, everybody that’s worked on this is everybody from the from home, from the streets. So, this EP really means a lot to us.

How do you stay true to your South African roots?

We’re just capturing all these moments and putting it all to make a bigger picture but not forgetting home. It’s very important for us to just always touch base back here and make everybody know that as much as we’re outside and we travel and we do all these amazing things in the world, home is always where the heart is. So, we’ll always come back and do something for our people at home so that the world will feel like the new audiences that come and listen to our sound. They get to hear what’s happening in South Africa, these are the authentic sounds.

What’s it like to see the reception towards you across the world?

When “Nakupenda” plays outside or we see videos,  we always still get shocked and we’re always still so grateful like God has really blessed us like this. God has deemed us worthy of all of this because obviously as an artist you always want the best for your music and for your sound but then to see it actually going that far, it’s just crazy. The way the audience actually relates to it–because obviously with our music, we keep the South African language in there so that we don’t draw away from the essence of the actual sound–and to see people actually singing the lyrics and actually enjoying it, and I’m like, do you guys understand what she was saying? But the vibe’s always there and you feel the love in the sound. 

How did you make “Mude Mude?”

“Mude Mude” is an amazing listen, all the songs on there are amazing, all six tracks. But “Mude Mude” is like that’s the one. So, with that one, we had studio camps at home because we were in the process of making the EP. We obviously sat down, discussed who we’re going to get on, how we’re going to make it work and everything just happened so naturally with my sister actually spearheading the studio sessions and getting everybody together. Everything happened so naturally, the energy was just there and it was so easy to get a hold of whoever we wanted on the tracks. We called Ch’cco and Uncool and we’re like, “Guys, please, we want to drop this,” and obviously coming from a “Nakupenda,” they were like, “Are you sure like what’s the plan, you know, everybody wants to know like what are you actually getting up to.” Everything there happened so well, the energy in the studio was amazing. 

How did you find your sound?

[It was] very stressful because COVID. We just learned how to DJ so we went to a DJ school, we were in Cape Town at the time.  Lockdown happened like a month or two after we acquired this new skill. So, we’ve learned how to DJ, we are ready to go out there and show the world but where do we showcase our talents? Like how will people actually know what we are about? At that time, Amapiano was also just reaching its peak because we were also trying to figure out which genre we were actually going to go into because we wanted to stick to a specific genre at the time. Amapiano was new, we were so ready to rock but there was no way for us to rock. So, we went online. We posted on YouTube, on TikTok and then the videos just started blowing from there. It was a lot of hard work to go into because we relocated when the lockdown was a bit relaxed. The rules were a bit more relaxed, we were like, “Okay, let’s relocate to Johannesburg and just try and figure it out from there.” We didn’t know anyone this side, we had no team, we had nobody. Amongst the two of us, we just figured it out and then we came to Jo’burg, met a couple of people along the way. At one point, we pretended to be our own managers when we would get bookings because we had a dream and there was nothing and nobody that was going to stop us, you know. We had the support of our families and with God on our side, we were just like we’re going to figure this out and if this is for us, God will make it happen. 

What do you want people to take away from listening to the EP?

I just hope that when people listen to this EP, they understand the amount of talent that we have in our country. South Africa is so full of talent; songwriters, producers, vocalists, and artists in general. We have so much talent out there and I want people to just see that the streets of South Africa are popping. The streets of South Africa know exactly what a good song is. If you listen to the project as a whole, you’ll see the bigger picture of it all and how it all flows in together. It’s a good time, it’s a feel good EP. If you just want to relax, let your hair down and just have a good time, this is the EP for you.

What does the rest of 2026 hold for you?

We are doing bigger shows, more shows this year internationally and locally. We’re actually going to do our production as well this year. We’re taking our stage production to a bigger scale. We’re just investing so much more into our music and also for our collaborations, you know, locally and international collaborations that we just want to be out there so people can see what we are about.