EVOLUTION OF BEAT MAKING IN NIGERIA; Naija's Hottest producers.
I sit back and reminisce the old days where we Nigerians
gave little or no ears to our own music. It was all about the foreign music.
The American music to be precise(and maybe the 'Makosa' beats amongst others).
I'm talking about the days when artists such as Sisquo,
Usher! Wyclef and the likes were the "real deal".
Over the years however, the Nigerian music industry has
grown and a lot of attention has been given to our very own 'Jamz'..
The year 2005 marked as a major breakthrough in the Nigerian
music industry with the likes of DBanj, Tuface who came to set a pace for other
artists.. Also the Nigerian hip hop scene was also quite dormant till the major
breakthrough of the likes of Naeto C (You know my P [2008], M.I (Talk about it
[2008]).. These artists also paved way for yoruba rap acts like of Lord of
Ajasa, Da'Grin (In blessed memory)...
However,
despite the massive boost of the Nigerian music industry within and outside
Africa, not enough recognition was the giving to the was music producers who
are the major tools in the hits hitting the streets every day in the Nigerian
Music industry..
I can state arguably that the music producers' work in a
song is up to 50 percent of the whole work of art. If a beat is 'wack', there
is every chance that the song is gonna be 'wack'...
On the other hand, if a beat is 'dope', but the artist is
not 'all that', such artist can still manage to make a great track out of such
beat.
In a place like the U.S.A, where producers have always been
recognized. The likes of Quincy Jones, Dre Dre, Scott Storch,Timbaland, are forces to reckon with in the music
industries.
Dre for instance has been relevant ever since the days of
'N***ars* with attitude' and most definitely is still a 'boss'. Scott storch
who was really active around 2005 while working with terror squad and many
other artists seems to have been quiet for quite some time now. Timbaland
killed it back in 2007 with many tunes and collaborations. He had also been in
limelight since the days of 'Timbaland&Magoo'.
Unlike in Nigeria, producers have always been respected and
well paid.
However, the
year 2005 marked a great turn around in the Nigerian music industry. With the
entry of the producer, Don Jazzy into the music industry. As the in house
producer of the then 'Mo-Hits' all Don Jazzy did was produce hit tracks.
Subsequently, so many producers began to emerge and today we
have loads of producers out in the industry who create hits everyday.
In the light of all the above,I would be talking about ten
producers in the music industry who are holding it down real tight. However,
I'd like to point out the fact that this list is in no particular order. Its
just a list of Nigerian music producers who I think are doing great work in the
industry.
1)Don-Jazzy:
So many say he is the greatest producer Nigeria
has produced.
Don Jazzy has been present since the days of 'JJC and 419
Squad'. He started Mo-hits with D'banj back in 2004 and has been relevant ever
since then. Steady producing hits year after year Don Jazzy has never relented.
He produced most of the songs on D'banj first album 'No long thing'. Same
applies to 'Run Down' which is Dbanj's second album which features the monster
hit 'Why me'.
Don Jazzy went ahead to murder Curriculum Vitae, which I'll
tag as one of the greatest albums in Nigeria in recent times. This was the
first and only album by the whole mohit crew.
Subsequently, 'The Entertainer' album was dropped from the
Mo-Hit camp. This album which emerged as one of the best Albums in africa in
the year 2008 was also got major production from Don Jazzy. Don Jazzy also
produced Wande Coal's 'M2M' album which is personally one of my favorites.
After Mo-hit split us, he started Mavin record and continued to make hits. The
kick is on and blazing in the street today.
He recently was rated as the 36th. "Most
powerful celebrity in Africa" according to
Forbes.
2)Sarz:
sarz who is signed to Trybe record came all of a
sudden into the music industry and had began to bully the industry ever since.
Young and vibrant, Sarz produces a lot of pop music. Sarz produced a lot of hits in the EME album
and went further to murder it by making 'Samba' which has been a club banger
since the time of release till now.
As far as the Naija music scene is concerned, sarz is
another major force to reckon with.
3)D'Tunes:
D'Tunes who came to limelight after producing
'Kukere' which happened to be one of the hottest tunes in Nigeria as at 2012.
He produced eight songs on Iyanya’s album.
However, prior to this, he had worked with artists like
9ice( on Bashorun Gaa) Tuface, Faze, Ruggedman, amongst others.
D’Tunes set up his
own music label,
Difference Entertainment, and signed on
Sean Tizzle whose single Sho Le is hitting up the airwaves.
4) Samklef :
Samkef who produced a large part of wizkid's
'superstar' album has been in limelight for a couple of years now in the
nigerian music industry. He produced wizkid's monster hit 'Don't dull'. A beat
which Tyga of YMCMB alsso jumped on for a freestyle on Tim Westwood's show and
this video got loads of views on youtube
He has worked with several other artists like Durella,
Olamide, vector, Rugged man, skales and so many.
Samklef however is still steady making hits everyday in
Naija.
5) Shizzi:
He produced Dami Duro which is the hit single
which brough Davido to limelight. He is signed to HKN as the in house producer.
Shizzi, who was nominated as the best
producer of the year by NEA, Nigeria
Entertainment Awards alongside producers
like Don Jazzy, Cobahms Asuquo, Samklef,
to mention a few.
He has worked with great artists
like Sasha, Harrysong, , OD Woods, Naeto C, Sauce Kid, Wande
Coal, D’Prince, MayD,
PSquare. He also produced a track on the mohit's CV album
and produced most of the tracks on Davido's O.B.O
We also several other major producers in Nigeria, some of
which are;
6) OJB:
It would be totally disrespectful if I leave him out
of the list. Despite the fact that her has not been too present in the industry
lately, OJB is one of the best producers Nigeria has ever seen. He produce
African Queen by tuface, and the entire grass to grace album. He also did
several works with Kennis Music. At a point in Nigeria, he was like the only
known producer and can be said to be the father of pop music in Nigeria. He
paved the way for the likes of Don Jazzy.
There also other major producers doing big in the Nigerian
music industry. Some of them which are
- J slick
- Gospel
-TY mix
- Phillz
- Yung-D
- Studio Magic
-Maleek Berry
New producers have also been emerging from different places
in Nigeria.
Today, it is a fact that the music producers are the back
bones of music in Nigeria
by Olayemi Oladapo ... @YemzDgogeta_YMC
