EVOLUTION OF BEAT MAKING IN NIGERIA.

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