The Music Producer Or The Artiste
A lot of factors come into play on the subject matter of who deserves the most credit to a song.Is it the music producer or the artist?
Credits matter a lot in any artistic field.It acknowledges the contribution of anyone involved in the making of that piece of art. In the music industry, there are musicians, songwriters and producers, but also arrangers, conductors, engineers and studios who all come together to bless our ears with melody.
In the music industry,the determining factor of a hit song goes beyond the beat creation and panache vocals.A Lot of times some songs never get to see the light of the music charts due to lack of proper marketing and promotion notwithstanding the fact that it ticks all the right boxes of a good musical piece.
Most times when a song becomes a hit, the artiste is extolled for his (or her) level of genius exuded on the track and so for the purpose of this post, I shall be focusing on two parties who play the biggest role in the music creation which is the basis for our judgment – the artiste and the music producer.Starting with one of Nigeria’s Most Renowned Music Producer Don Jazzy, his heavy involvement in music matters has brought him to the forefront of affairs in the industry which continues to set him apart from his colleagues,this also explains why almost everyone wants to get his involvement on their track because his records speak volumes.From D’banj to Wande Coal to Korede Bello to Dr Sid, even D’Prince, Di’Ja,Reekado Banks and then the new bread of Rema,Ayra Starr and Magixx.
The trend stays consistent as he continues to churn out hit productions for his Mavin crew.Cobhams Asuquo is another producer whose art is equally vested in music,his trend isn’t any different and that’s why Timi Dakolo, Dare Art Alade and many others haven’t looked elsewhere since realizing he has developed a penchant for making their individual magic tick.
Samklef would be the producer that founded the Wizkid sound and gave it some level of consistency,there was always that Samklef fine-tune in Wizkid’s songs that we really used to love.Could I possibly forget OJB and J. Martins? Never! These two are responsible for a large amount of hits from the early to mid millennial era. And their discography covers works from 2face Idibia, Ruggedman, D’Banj, Wizkid, Durella, Goldie,Resonance, Yemi Alade, Waje, P-Square, Flavour and Bracket (just to mention a few) respectively. OJB is that guy whose production launched a fine crop of today’s A-list artists into fame.
There’s also Masterkraft, Tee-Y Mix, Pheelz, D’Tunes, Young John, DJ Coublon and their likes who amidst the tight monopolistic turfs associated with the industry, they still shone through like diamonds from their rough to stealing seats at the high table and eventually becoming the most sought after producers of today.
Alternatively, there are where the artist has succeeded in building a personality that will always overshadow the producer’s works. This is evident with the likes of Selebobo and Shizzi whose stellar works can be tied to unarguably Africa’s best artistes, Yemi Alade and Davido. No matter how epoch their inputs are in the music, we might never really get past overlooking Ms Alade and Davido to herald their producers solely for the genius work done on their records. Leriq suffered this feat with Burna Boy as with Del’B who still experiences the same with Chidinma, Flavour, Wizkid and even Kcee. For those of us conversant with industry trends, you must have noticed that more producers are turning to artists in a bid to fight this anomaly. Those with vocal prowess have taken to singing while others who have crafted a signature sound, task themselves with doing collaborations.
Thankfully, this isn’t an illness that has befallen only us here in Nigeria, it’s a global fight that has been on for decades. Producers all over the world are not duly recognized or well appreciated for their efforts and contributions to building the industry. This would explain the movie “Straight Outta Compton” starring Dr Dre, Ice Cube and a couple other international producers trying to pass a message across although from a racial angle but we get the big picture. Some producers never get any attention and the little recognition a few others get, is sometimes not even enough. Now, they have all resorted to lacing their sound tags on every production they lay their hands on by means of announcing themselves (and their works) to the world. Will that ever be enough? Obviously not.Even if it’ll suffice on the interim, how long really will it last?
It’s over to you.Care to join me speculate?
