There is a long line of persons involved before music gets to the final consumers. Some of those involved in the music making process would be the artiste, songwriter, music producer, sound engineer, A&R etc.

At the pivot of the music making process are the music producers. They are 60% responsible if a song will become a hit. And in this clime, the music producers don’t get enough recognition as they deserve.

In this post, We highlights some of the best music producers in the past 12 months. These folks as will be revealed are responsible for some of the biggest hits to come out of Naija.

Let’s dive into our list:

Kel P: Only about two years ago, not a lot of people knew the name of this amazing music producer. By virtue of happenstance Kel P got to work with Burna Boy and the rest is history as we all know today. The immensely talented music producer is responsible for producing the majority of the songs on Burna Boy’s ‘African Giant‘ album. These hits ‘Gbona‘, ‘On The Low’, ‘Killin Dem‘, etc. all bare testament to his talent. He is a major contributor to the highflying success of Damini Ogulu.

Rexxie: Here is another guy who has influenced a lot about the sound of the Nigerian music industry. His first exposure was working with Lil Kesh after he opened YAGI Records. He went on to producing for the likes of Chinko Ekun, Naira Marley, Zlatan Ibile and many other artistes of that extraction. Rexxie is the new wave of Nigerian music, he is responsible for smash hits like ‘Able God‘, ‘Zanku‘, ‘Am I A Yahoo Boy’, ‘Soapy‘ etc. Sarkodie was impressed by the ‘Soapy’ instrumental and went on a hunt for him, so something is cooking up from these two.

NorthBoi: Do you think ‘Soco‘ is a jam and the beats was even more crazy? Then you need to direct your gratitude to NorthBoi. The young music producer made one of the biggest tunes of 2018. He is also the guy behind Mayorkun’s ‘Posh‘. To wrap things up NorthBoi hold production credits on Beyoncé’s new album ‘The Gift’. He produced track 17 ‘Keys To The Kingdom’ off the album. What a guy right? Not a noise maker but the quiet achiever.

PS: He is also the producer for Wizkid’s incoming tune ‘Joro’ and we can’t wait.

Ozedikus: ‘Dumebi‘ is one of the biggest songs out of Nigeria at the moment, the tune has been played in high profile parties and music festivals in Europe and America. Guess who produced this beautiful piece? You already know it’s ‘Ozedikus Nwanne… Recognize!’ He holds production credits for Rema’s debut EP and Crayon’s ‘Cray Cray‘ EP as well. Ozedikus is talented he definitely has more enchanting sounds to give to the world.

P2J: Nigerian born, London-based music producer is worthy of praise. He has been holding down Afrobeats even much more than he gets publicity for, that could be because he is running things from London town. However, P2J also known as Pro2Jay has been making Afrobeats music for the likes of Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy for a while now. Currently he is the go-to guy when American or British music acts need the Afro flavour on their records. He has produced for Goldlink, Chris Brown, and many other foreign music stars. His best effort yet would be producing several joints on Beyoncé’s ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ album. Some of the tunes he produced are ‘Don’t Jealous Me’, ‘Water’, ‘Ja Ara E’, co-produced ‘Brown Skin Girl’, ‘Scar’ and ‘Keys To The City’.

Cracker: Perhaps you have heard that voice tag ‘cracker cracker cracker’ before, while listening to your favourite tune. The magic on that song was done by Cracker Mallo. Cracker is the guy behind tunes like Mayorkun ‘Sope’, Slimcase’s ‘Azaman‘, Fireboy DML’s ‘Jealous‘ and more.

BlaqJerzee: This guy has been around the block for quite a while, in fact long enough having worked with music stars like Sean Tizzle, KCee etc. He gained more mainstream recognition after producing Wizkid’s hit ‘Fever‘, Larry Gaaga’s ‘Low‘ featuring the Starboy and several other tunes.

Pheelz: The YBNL in-house music producer has been around for a while and has produced some of Olamide’s biggest hits. So far he hasn’t lost his touch in making good Afrobeats jams, he was fantastic on Mr Eazi’s ‘Surrender‘, he made most of the tracks on ‘YBNL Mafia Family’ album. He is also the guy behind Fireboy DML’s hit ‘What If I Say‘. Pheelz Mr Producer never disappoints.

Sarz: Like he stated with the title of his EP, ‘Sarz Is Not Your Mate’ he is one of the finest music makers Nigeria has got. He holds production credits on Beyoncé’s song ‘Find Your Way Back’, Skepta hit collaboration with Wizkid ‘Energy‘, WurlD’s ‘Trobul‘ etc. Sarz is a classic abeg!

Young Jonn: Also known as the wicked producer, the multiple award-winning beat maker still ranks as a go-to music producer at any time. He made the beats for Kizz Daniel’s viral ‘Fvck You’ song and the challenge that followed thereafter. He also produced Mayorkun’s smash hit ‘True‘ which featured Kizz Daniel. Young Jonn understands his sound clearly.