Kabza De Small, The Big Hash & Sly’s Love Is A Star Is SA’s Most Exciting Amapiano Collaboration Yet
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- May 8, 2026
There are collaborations, and then there are moments. Love Is A Star — the long-awaited 10-track collaborative album from three of South Africa’s most distinct musical voices — drops today, May 8, 2026, and it’s already shaping up to be one of the defining releases of the year. With Sly completing the trio, this is a project that dares to ask: what happens when the King of Amapiano links with the poster boy of South African melodic rap? The answer, apparently, is something both unexpected and deeply familiar.
What Is Love Is A Star About?
At its core, Love Is A Star is a genre-defying union built on a simple idea: music doesn’t have to choose sides. The album blends The Big Hash’s introspective, melodic rap sensibility with the groove-driven amapiano architecture of Kabza De Small and Sly, resulting in a chilled, cohesive listening experience that drifts beyond traditional genre lines while never losing sight of its roots. It is, in the truest sense, a Mzansi album for 2026 — cosmopolitan yet rooted, polished yet warm.
The project was teased through a carefully considered rollout beginning with the pre-order single “Company”, released on April 24 and quickly establishing the sonic tone of what was to follow: Hash’s signature smooth vocals riding atop those warm piano keys and percussive rhythms that SA Hip Hop Mag described as the soundtrack to late-night drives and reflective moments.
‘Love Is A Star’ is now available – listen here!CLICK HERE
As SlikourOnLife reported when the tracklist dropped, the album runs 10 tracks deep, including titles like “Uthando” (featuring Lia Butler), “Crazy”, “Ringtone v2” (featuring Kelvin Momo), “Ngcono” (featuring Blxckie), and “When It Comes To You” (featuring Jay Sax). It is a concise but richly structured body of work — no filler, just feeling.
The Artists Behind Love Is A Star
To understand why Love Is A Star matters, you need to understand who’s on it. Kabza De Small — born Kabelo Petrus Motha — is not merely a producer; he is the architect of modern amapiano. Wikipedia records that his breakthrough single “Umshove” in 2018 marked amapiano’s mainstream arrival, and he has not looked back since, accumulating thirteen South African Music Awards and a spot on the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list. His label, PianoHub, nurtures the genre’s next generation while he continues to evolve its sound.
The Big Hash (Tshegetso Reabetswe Kungwane), meanwhile, is arguably the sharpest pen in the room. Born in Pretoria in 2000, he dropped out of high school to pursue music and made his presence known at 17 with projects that earned him early recognition from rap legend Riky Rick. As Apple Music’s artist profile captures, his captivating, punchy rhymes, relatable lyrical content, and soothing melodies built a dedicated fanbase almost overnight. His 2019 mixtape Young is widely regarded as a formative text for a generation of South African listeners — and he recently marked its seventh anniversary by teasing this very project.
Kabza, The Big Hash & Sly Are Bridging Worlds – And Their New Single, ‘Company’ Is Just the Beginning
Sly Mndawe, the third collaborator, brings his deep house and piano-infused production sensibility to round out the project’s sonic palette. Together, the three artists form a rare musical triangle — each bringing something the others don’t have, and each elevating the whole.
“Yes, ‘Young’ is 7 years old today, happy anniversary to the mixtape that changed my life. I appreciate all the support from everybody who got to know me through this body of work. I feel like y’all grew up with me. The next one is for all of you! #LoveIsAStar”
Love Is A Star Features Are Stacked
One of the most talked-about aspects of Love Is A Star is its guest list. Beyond the trio, the album features appearances from some of the most exciting names in South African music right now. Kelvin Momo — one of PianoHub’s own, and a boundary-pusher in his own right — appears on “Ringtone v2”. Blxckie, the Durban-born rapper who has become one of the country’s most beloved voices, shows up on both “Ngcono” and “No Conditions”. Lia Butler lends her vocals to the album’s opening track, “Uthando”, and to “Make Up Your Mind” (alongside Mashudu). Caramelised Music and Jay Sax round out the feature credits.
The Yanos Magazine noted that these collaborations signal a fusion of different musical worlds — hip-hop, soul, and amapiano — coming together in a way that feels genuinely fresh rather than commercially engineered. These are artists who move in overlapping circles and share genuine creative chemistry, and it shows in the music.
The Love Is A Star Rollout Is as Bold as the Music
Kabza De Small’s and The Big Hash’s Love Is A Star isn’t just arriving as a streaming drop and a social media blast. The campaign around the album has been deliberately designed to take the artists into unexpected spaces — expanding their reach while creating what the team describes as both digital conversation and real-world cultural moments. Think immersive activations that bring together art, physical spaces, and community participation to create shareable, real-time experiences.
Fan participation sits at the centre of the rollout, with listeners helping unlock milestone-driven experiences — turning streaming numbers into access and deepening the bond between artist and audience. It positions Love Is A Star not just as an album but as an event, a living thing that fans can actively shape. As Music In Africa reported, the campaign is built to encourage audience participation through streaming milestones and interactive experiences linked to the release.
It’s a marketing philosophy that mirrors the music itself: inclusive, boundary-crossing, and designed to make people feel like they’re part of something.
Why Love Is A Star Matters for South African Music
South African music in 2026 is in a fascinating place. Amapiano has cemented its status as a global genre — with its influence traceable in pop, hip-hop, and dance music internationally — and a new generation of artists is now both honouring and pushing past what the genre’s pioneers established. The Big Hash’s willingness to operate within amapiano’s world, which he has been vocal about pursuing for years (as The Yanos Magazine reported, he pushed back against critics by noting he has been working in that sonic space for four years), is part of a broader conversation about what Mzansi music can be when it refuses to stay in its lane.
