From Afro Nation, to being a Meister and collaborations — Youngstunna has loads to celebrate

Amapiano sensation Youngstunna recently made big appearances on the Afro Nation music festival stages in Miami, US and Portugal, and has been busy abroad flying the South African flag high.

On Thursday we rubbed shoulders with the musician at a luncheon at The Royale Jägermeister Speakeasy.

The food and drinks were flowing at the intimate affair and the musician braved his jet lag to celebrate his wins. The get-together was also to celebrate Youngstunna as the newest addition to the Jägermeister family.

He joined DJ Uncle Waffles, Focalistic and DBN Gogo in a brand partnership. 

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, Youngstunna said he enjoyed performing on the world stage but the cherry on top was meeting fellow South Africans and concertgoers singing along to his songs. 

“I was sitting with Uncle Wiz (Wizkid) and it's the second time, the first Afro Nation we couldn't have a conversation. On the second time we had a decent conversation; I met stylists from Nigeria, France and Asia; I'm talking Japan level. Besides the music — we can hear you with the music — but we want to see what you got and what you got besides the music. I'm on that now because I want to see myself working with other people.”

Youngstunna is a musician who loves to reflect on how he started in the industry as a hip-hop artist, making the switch to amapiano. 

He said amapiano saved his life, and he gives respect to this genre and the people who got him here.

“I pay respect to them a lot because if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. I can write and I have talent, but respect goes with it, being humble goes with it. Actually the achievements build the ego, and the goals build the hunger. I'm still hungry, I still have so many goals, I still want to achieve a lot of things. I don't want to leave any legacies. I still want to let people go with this and grow with this as much as its growing right now.” 

He told TshisaLIVE the travelling and meeting new people made him see things differently and networking had inspired him to broaden his horizons

“I see myself sitting on top of the world. Besides the music, I love acting. I think I want to touch there, but I think after my third album because that's what I'm working on now, while I'm about to release my second one.”

Youngstunna says he has a vision of what he wants to do next. 

“It's still a long journey. As a star I want to collaborate with a lot of people that I've always wanted to work with from fashion, to music and visuals because amapiano doesn't drop many visuals. I still want to drop a story. I want to tell a story with this music thing, and I want to show the people because that's what we lack. I want to do what amapiano doesn't do.”