With a title that alludes to its roots in humanness, the debut album from Daveyton-born amapiano star CowBoii is rich in emotion. “THIS AINT’ A.I is my reintroduction to the industry,” he tells Apple Music. “I felt like I’ve been in the industry for a minute, but I was a featured artist in most songs I was known for. So this is a reintroduction to the people to say, ‘CowBoii’s style is like this.’ It’s more soulful than isgubhu. Many people didn’t expect this side of me; I’m separating myself from the things that you guys knew me for, to the things that I’m about to introduce you to.” His range helps him pull out all the stops, with the help of a versatile guest list that includes amapiano A-listers like DJ Maphorisa, ShaunMusiq, Ch’cco, and Mellow & Sleazy. South African rapper Emtee’s melodic drawl takes center stage on “Tsokolo,” the lush soulful opening scene-setter for the album’s soulful first half—where Mashudu, Thatohatsi and Tracy lay soulful vocals that complement relaxing keys and a breezy pads (“uHambo,” “Madibuseng,” “Kuyafana”). “iZandla,” where ’piano rapper Focalistic dances on thumping bass, kicks off the album’s upbeat section, where CowBoii hangs out with the finest lyricists and talks their talk in chants and fly lines. The production is minimalist in form, leaving space for the big personalities of Scotts Maphuma, Stompiiey, and the like. Here, CowBoii takes us through the album, track by track. “uThando Lunjena” (with Bitter Soul, Makhanj) “Another soulful one. It talks about going back to your ex. If you still love your ex, don’t make that mistake of telling yourself that everything is nice. Just go back to your ex and solve your things and be OK. It’s an easy song, it doesn’t have a lot of things in it. It’s a song whereby when you listen, you can say, ‘OK, this song is basically talking to me.’” “Sakhiwe” (with ShaunMusiq, Thatohatsi) (feat. Kabelo Sings) “Shout-out to Kabelo Sings for the song ’cause it was supposed to be on his album, but he wasn’t ready then to drop the album. So, I said I would wait and let him decide if maybe he’s waiting to drop the song, but he was like, ‘Drop the song, it makes sense for your album. Your album is mostly talking about this kind of situation that I’m talking about on this song.’ I decided to [add] a verse, which made sense and people loved it. It’s a song that talks about growth, watching what you do as you grow.” “Mdantso Nyana” (with Fada Figa, Papiki) (feat. Leemckrazy, Macdeedozer) “This is the main song on the deluxe. It’s isgubhu, what people know me for, my strength. I gave them a lot of messages in the album, so I decided to forget the message a little so we can dance, forgetting about the problems that we were speaking about on the album. The song is inspired by [stylist and model] Shooter; he’s the best. ‘Mdansonyana’ is his slogan.” “Hape Le Hape” (with LastBornDiroba, Focalistic) (feat. Matute Boy, Gipa) “This song was inspired by Pitori. I’m Zulu. It was my first time making a song in Pedi, and I didn’t even trust that it was going to be that good, but it made sense to Pretoria because they didn’t expect me to speak their language that good. So, I decided to drop the track because it’s big in PTA. To keep it to myself would be very unfair.” “Tsokolo” (feat. Emtee, Thatohatsi, Musical Xhepard) “‘Tsokolo’ [means] ‘struggles.’ When we made this song, it was a very emotional day. We took four days to make it; we couldn”’t finish in time because there were a lot of emotions in the studio. And we had to record our verses in different time zones and different days because we couldn’t record the same day. But it’s a very special track for me because I took my whole time doing it. I didn’t rush it.” “uHambo” (feat. Mashudu, Small Keys) “‘uHambo’ and ‘Tsokolo’ were made the same day, but ‘uHambo’ wasn't even written. I had these four lines I didn’t even write because that was something I was going through. I don’t speak to a lot of people. So, when I get time, if I want to talk, I just go into the mic, especially if I’m not feeling OK on that day. I prefer not to speak to anyone and just go into the mic and say everything that I’m feeling.” “Madibuseng” (with Tracy) (feat. ShaunMusiq, Thatohatsi) “This is a cover of an old song. So, I only had that hook and I needed a female vocalist for it. And I think at the time, because Tracy was the vocalist I was working with the most, she was the perfect fit for the song because she knew the original song, so she had an idea of what was happening. So, she already knew what to write about. We just needed to put on those catchy verses.” “Kuyafana” (with Thatohatsi) (feat. Mashudu, Mzizi, Ch’cco, Small Keys) “I would say this is the ’piano version of the first track, ‘Tsokolo.’ I wanted to make something like a chant, you understand. But it didn’t come out the way I wanted. I wanted a lot of artists in the song to just share their stories, whatever they are going through. The song doesn’t even have a chorus. It’s just from the first verse to the fourth verse, just verses, no chorus.” “iZandla” (with DJ Maphorisa, Focalistic) (feat. Masterkraft, Xduppy) “I would like to give a shout-out to DJ Maphorisa and Focalistic for that one, because the song was supposed to be on Focalistic’s album. He told me the story he was looking for on the track that he was making. So, I was like, I have this concept, which is ‘iZandla’—[meaning] you should clap for others when it’s their time, so when your time comes, they’ll clap for you as well.” “Roba Letheka” “This was originally by Ishmael; I decided to do it my own way. I wanted a catchy phrase for people to sing along to at groove. And most people are familiar with ‘roba letheka.’ I was done with this song in like 10 minutes.” “Saka” (with Djy Biza, Royal Musiq) (feat. Mellow & Sleazy, Njabzin Daking) “‘Saka’ means to get down, to dance. If you check the song titles, you can tell these are two albums, but merged together. From track six to 10, let’s dance. So, let’s dance, let’s saka.” “Jika V.T.S.K” “This song is an address. Not to anyone specific, but I felt like it was wakeup call to a lot of people who I felt, at the moment, were not doing enough work to put us, the ’piano young ones, in the state we need to be. So I was addressing some of the things there, but I was not dissing, I was just addressing certain situations that are affecting us in the industry.” “eGoli” (with Mellow & Sleazy, Scotts Maphuma) (feat. Elte, Novatron) “My first hit, my first single. I didn’t expect it to be this big; I wouldn’t say it’s a song I put in my heart into. I made this song with Scotts. It was inspired by us moving from Daveyton to Johannesburg just to pursue life. So we just felt like we needed a song for our hood just to say we’re still going to Joburg now and still going to try, we’ll come back with fruits. But surprisingly, ‘eGoli’ is the song that it is today.” “Angeke” (with DJ Maphorisa, Xduppy) (feat. Kabelo Sings, Seun1401) “This is also an address, it’s a continuation of ‘Jika V.T.S.K.’ I didn’t want to make the song long, so I had to cut the song in two and put the two concepts where people can differentiate what I’m talking about. ‘Jika V.T.S.K’ was supposed to be an interlude, not even a full song. So, I decided to make them both the songs that talk about the same thing, but in a different way.”