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Friday, February 17, 2012

“I’m the New School Hit Maker” – Shizzi



Shizzi
For core members of the industry, artistes and other producers alike, Shizzi is already an established brand that happens to be one of the go-to guys if you’re interested in making hits. For those who have followed Nigerian music in detail over the last 2 years or so, you must have heard the axiom ‘ITS SHIZZI’ on several songs. And the surfacing of Davido’s  ‘Dami Duro’ and Wizkid’s ‘Love My Baby’ nationwide hit singles must have been your prim and proper introduction to Shizzi!

Born Sheyi Akerele from Oyo State. He’s been known for hits like the controversial ‘Ekaette’ by Maye Hunta and the brain behind Africa’s biggest Television show Big Brother Africa 5 theme song, but the Oyo-born producer also learnt how to produce, “I really love music; I played musical instruments in church while I was young I had a friend who had the fruity loops program so I installed it in my system and ever since I have been producing. I like a lot of people. I can’t mention all of them. So, the love I had for music made my interest in production grow strong. Since then, I’ve been improving by the day. I started producing from 2004. Then I left for South Africa, which later became a positive turnaround in my career. I moved back to Nigeria later on but due to some challenges I faced I had to return to South Africa even though Davido told me to stay, but I wanted to leave not until he dropped Dami Duro; and the reception gained from the song made me realize that it was time for me to come back for good.”

Relating to how he copes with artistes, “Honestly, I enjoy recording sessions. If an artiste comes with a song, I’d make a beat with my idea for the song. It might not be thoroughly the same with the artiste’s, but we’ll sort it out.

On the music industry; ‘The music industry is growing rapidly but as for we the producers we don’t really gain a lot from it because how we get our money is just from selling beats only and seeing that the song gets completed. We don’t actually have rights to the song and that is not good for us. That is no royalties because the structure is not good enough.”

His hobbies are meeting new people, watching movies, listening to music and playing basketball.

He’s working with a lot of people presently. He’s also working on his singles coming soon. “I’ll still do my own music but my main focus now is to produce for top artistes as I still want to be recognized as a world-class producer and one of the best in Africa.” Says Shizzi.

He advises young and upcoming music producers, “Never give up; there was a point in my career where I almost gave up. Try to do your own thing don’t copy any other individual.”

You can follow him on Twitter @iamshizzi