BEHIND THE MUSIC: THE PRODUCERS

By Noka

When you listen to a song, what gets your attention first Or what makes you like a song on a first listen? For me, the 'beat' always gets me before the lyrics, musical ability of the musician or anything else...The first time I heard 'Gongo Aso' by 9ice what got my attention was the beat! And till today, anytime I listen to it I still get chills down my spine(much respect to I.D Cabasa for that).

So, what makes a beat so important or captivating you might ask; 

Well, a good beat 'makes' a song and in turn a song 'makes' the musician. Underlying all these, are the people who make the beat; the music producers! These producers are one of the most important set of people in the music industry because they can shape a musician's career .A talented musician without an equally talented producer to work with is probably not gonna be a good outcome because the songs produced are definitely not gonna be reflective of how good the musician is. This is why I am of the opinion that most times, when a song is regarded as 'bad' by the public, the musician is not to be entirely blamed but the producer of the song as well( except for waaaaay talentless musicians who cant be helped though).

Being a good producer is reflected through the beats you make;

A good beat captures you through the full length of the song and there'll be no room for boredom especially on a first listen, sometimes regardless of how talentless the musician might seem. Having a unique mark on every beat yet producing a different 'feel' to every song has to be the height of being a talented producer I believe. I think where producers challenge themselves is to work with musicians from different genres and not stay constricted to a particular set of musicians every time is important as it 'broadens their horizons' and makes their beats appealing to different classes of music lovers.

We have quite a number of good producers in Nigeria and I am impressed with the authenticity of the beats I' ve been hearing these days. the sound quality and blend of instruments into a beat are also quite impressive (in my own  layman understanding o!). They definitely deserve more credit and appreciation than they are given .The only hitch that can be pointed out is in terms of recycling of beats which some of our producers do as there is no distinction between the tracks they work on and this is why some Naija songs seem to sound the same .All in all however, our producers in Nigeria are really trying and I give kudos to the likes of Cobhams, O.J.B Jezreel, I.D Cabasa, Don jazzy, Jay sleek and others......God bless your hustle o....:D