10 Most Underrated Music Producers In Nigeria ~ M21 9JA

When it comes to music production in Nigeria, there are tons of producers. Some well known, and some not as much, some getting all the hype, and some others really flying under the radar or just not getting the love they deserve, and that’s what we’re here to discuss today.

10 of Nigeria’s most underrated producers. Now does this list mean that the other producers out there are not good or underrated? Not exactly. But this just means that these are the 10 that we feel are the most underrated for the work they’ve put in and some of the hits they’ve had under their belt that they, more times than not, don’t make noise about.

So in NO particular order, here goes:

DJ Klem

If you ask me, DJ Klem is the most underrated producer in Nigeria. Now it’s not like no one knows who he is or anything like that, but really he should be known as one of the hottest producers right now along with Don Jazzy & Cobhams. Yes I said it. With hits, See Me – Mo Cheddah, Holla At Your Boy – WizKid under his belt, along with a grossly underrated AfroFunkyDiscoSoul album, DJ Klem has been a serious pillar of consistency since he got in the game. You know it’s about to be a good 4 mins when you hear “DJ Kleeeemmm”

Add his body of work with DJ Klem presents… and you almost feel like slapping someone that says DJ Klem is not top 5 in Nigeria. Period!

Notable work: No Be Money – Mo Cheddah, Shuku Shuku Bam – Phenom, Holla At Your Boy – Wizkid, See Me – Mo Cheddah, Hello – Iye, Farabale – DJ Klem ft. Yemi Alade & Efa, AfroFunkyDiscoSoul album.

ChopStix

ChopStix is a pretty quite and simple dude. Barely makes a lot of noise and hardly even jumps on records to say anything, but what this guy does on the beat is straight bananas. At first he was primarily doing mostly for his team GRIP, but now he’s expanded further dropping beats for some of the biggest hits in Nigeria right now. Ice Princ will definitely be thank ful he’s got ChopStix on deck, Aboki, VIP and the likes might not be the same songs.

Notable Work: Ice Prince – Aboki, Endia – 48, Ice Prince – Thank You (co-produced by MI), Kahli Abdu – Fear Fear Factor, Victoria Kimani – Oya, Reminisce – Government, Dee Money, Endia & Yung L – Dash Me Da Ting.

Sossick

Sossick is another producer in my book that rivals, DJ Klem for that most underrated producer spot. The hits he’s been responsible for compared to the love he gets is a total mismatch. You can argue that Da Grin might not have had his biggest hit were it not for this dude right here. Delving into vocals sometimes, Sossick still stays solid on the beatz and is still a solid hit maker – Just ask May D.

Notable Work: Da Grin – Pon Pon Pon, May D – Use me ,Eva Alordiah – Mercy, Sossick – Kosofo, Eva Alordiah – I Done Did It, Sossick – Jor Oh

Kid Konnect

Kid Konnect is as super talented as they come in Nigeria. Sometimes he gets mistaken as a purely hip-hop producer but don’t get it twisted he can still rock beats for different genres (check out his Look At Me Now Fuji Mix or Rack Mix) , however I will say some of his best work has been for the hip-hop cats in Nigeria. MI, SDC, Kahli Abdu, Beazy has all called on Konnect’s Name for some of their masterpieces. Simply put, Kid Konnect is a parallel universe will be one of the best producers in Nigeria. Don’t believe me check out his collection of Fuji mixes.

Notable Work: MI – Four Horsemen, MI – Fuck You, Loose Kaynon – Aka Na Enu, Brymo – Chocolate, SDC – Clone Wars Vol 2 (some tracks), X.O Senavoe – Say It Again, Bandits EP (with Kahli Abdu)

Password

Before the whole Gobe saga, there was not too much known about this singer/producer/song writer right here even though he had been paying his dues quietly under the radar. He’s responsible for a lot of work on Darey’s Undareyted album, and one of the biggest hits of the past decade, Champion by General Pype. Add to his list work for himself, Davido, HarrySong, Safarie and a host of others.

Password still stays under the radar a bit but now under HKN, one has to expect his time to shine will come soon. Either as a producer or an artists.

Notable Work: General Pype – Born Champion, Darey – Style Na Style Remix, Password – Obiaghelli, Gobe (original & Davido’s version co-produced with Shizzi)

Jay Stuntz

Jay Stunt

One producer that really should be an icon by now is Jay Stunt. Responsible for some of the biggest highlife hits on the past years Jay Stunt is grossly underrated as a hit maker. One reason might be that he stayed under the radar when some of his biggest hits were hitting the airwaves.

You know you’ve jumped up and down to some of his hottest beats without even knowing he was the oga behind the tune. Doubt me? Check out his notable work below.

Notable Work: Flavour – Oyi, Flavour – Baby Oku, Timaya – Another Man Chop, Flavour – Adamma, Jay-Stunt – Body Body, A significant number of Flavour’s Uplifted album.

TinTin

Tin-Tin

To be honest with myself, I didn’t realize how many of some of my favorite tunes were produced by Tin-Tin until I started putting together his list of songs. Dude is pure fire, and it’s not just a matter of whether his songs blew everything out of the water, but the creative sounds he uses. Simply exquisite (if I can use that word to describe a beat).

Tin-Tin is another underrated produced looking at the work he’s done in the industry and considering you get the feeling he’s barely scratched the surface of his talents. Just think what what we’ll be seeing in a few years from him.

Notable Work: Slim T -Lagosians, Dammy Krane – Lobatan, Eva Alordiah – Your Fada, Down Low, Kel – Give It To Me, Pope – Enjoy

Gospel

Also known as Gospel On D Beatz, the beats coming from the kid is mad crazy. More especially when you look back at some songs he did that you didn’t know. I was personally a believer after listening to Davido’s All Of You and then Burna Boy’s Celebrate.I was completely sold after that.

Over the past couple of years he’s slowly been building his catalog, and looking back on it, it’s a super impressive body of work. His demand will only get greater at we dive into 2014. Just watch.

Gospel On Da Beatz and we badder than…

Notable work: Tekno – Holiday, Burna Boy – Celebrate, Tiwa Savage – Ileke, Tekno – Onyenekwu, Davido – All Of You

Shizzi

Shizzi is primarily associated with Davido’s hits but not to get it confused he’s much more than his work with Davido (Ask WizKid). However to fully appreciate the package Shizzi is bringing you gotta also look at his work in OBO. Simply great work.

Shizzi is creating a name for himself, and sooner than later a lot of peeps will really appreciate what he’s bringing to the game. Club banging hits with no mercy at all.

Notable work: Davido – Dami Duro (co-produced), Davido – Dollar In The Bank, WizKid – Love My Baby, Davido- Gobe (with password), Shank – BFF, Harrysong – Taiye Kehinde

WizBoyy

It’s easy to look at WizBoyy as an artist and forget about his production skills, but that’ll be a huge mistake. For any song you hear his voice, you bet you he might have done some production on it. It’s getting to a point now that any new age highlife beat I hear now, I suspect WizBoyy.

For some reason though, I get the feeling WizBoyy doesn’t get the credit he deserves as a producer. He’s marvelous on the beat, and his work is what I can best describe as happy music. You hear the beat and just smile and want to dance and give thanks go God. That is what WizBoyy brings to the plate – Magic to your ears.

Notable work: WizBoyy – Fotojenik, Ice Prince – By This Time, WizBoyy – Infinity, Chidinma – Jollie, Flavour – I Dont Care, Slim Brown – Akara Don Done, Chykay – Ohemaa