Steve Aoki on drinking umqombothi, his 2020 Ultra SA set & stanning over DJ Black Coffee

If you see international DJ and producer Steve Aoki in the streets of Jozi or Cape Town next month, feel free to invite him over for some umqombothi.

The Are You Lonely hitmaker will be in the hood in February as a headline at global dance music festival Ultra South Africa, to be held at The Ostrich Farm in Cape Town on February 28 and the Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on February 29.

Steve told TshisaLIVE he's in love with SA and is looking forward to maybe enjoying a  safari or taking in the local culture, like he did when he last visited our shores several years ago.

One of Steve's treasured memories was when he was invited to sit with a group of men and drink traditional beer.

“I am quite an adventurer so we went walking in different areas and explored. We saw a bar in someone's yard, like in a shed, and there was this group of elderly men sitting about a big home-brew. They would put a bucket in the home-brew and passed along the bucket so everyone could have a drink.

“I was invited to sit with them and tried it. I liked it. I mean, I didn't hallucinate or pass out. It was an amazing experience.”

Steve has pledged to party hard when he lands in Mzansi and said fans can expect a high-energy set with loads of new music.

“It will be one month shy of my album launch. In March I drop Neon Future IV. It is my biggest and most complex album to date. I have a track-list large enough for two albums so there is a lot of material, which I will be playing at the concerts. It will be a mix of my older classic and new stuff, but it will be an artist set, with more of my own music.”

Steve hopes to book a studio during his stay and invite several SA artists to come jam with him, which could result in potential collabs. He said the idea came from seeing the talent in SA.

Steve is also a HUGE Black Coffee stan.

He praised DJ Black Coffee and said he was doing huge things for the culture.

“He is a legend already and is doing so much for the culture. He represents SA so well. What an amazing human being he is. He has one of the most amazing souls, I enjoy his company.

“He is an amazing guy, full of life and energy. He is also humble. I am a big fan.”