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BeatsByJayy: Nigeria's hottest music producer so far in 2020 [Pulse Interview]

It's only April 29, 2020, but Jayy has already had major or 100% production credits on four projects, Judah EP, God's Engineering, The Live Report and Jaynius.

BeatyByJayy tells Pulse about AQ, MI Abaga, Buju, Jaynius, making music and more. (Instagram/BeatsByJayy)

This interview should have conducted face-to-face, but the lockdown and the state of business have prevented it. Nonetheless, it's an amazing time to be BeatsByJayy or Big Daddy Jayy.

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For the self-styled Afro-inspired urban, pop, and Hip-Hop producer, It's only April 29, 2020, but he's already had major or 100% production credits on four projects, Judah EP, God's Engineering, The Live Report and Jaynius.

The wild part is that all those projects are critically-acclaimed. Three of those projects will effectively make a list of the best Nigerian albums of 2020 (so far) without second thoughts from anybody who knows his onions. For most of his career, he's been known as a frequent collaborator of Nigerian rapper, AQ.

However, for most aficionados of the Nigerian underground, they knew him when he produced Don't Ask Me What Happened EP for erstwhile Loopy Records act, Milli. In 2020, Nigeria where Hip-Hop/Rap seems to be making another run for a golden era, BeatsByJayy has soundtracked some of the biggest flag-bearers of that notice.

For that reason, he's arguably been Nigeria's hottest music producer so far in 2020. If he's not, then he's a close second while also being the hardest working one. Before he dropped Jaynius, he did some awesome work with the hook on 'Clap For Yourself' off The Live Report.

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Born Victor Jimar Chujor-Idowu, BeatsByJayy is the last of three boys in Surulere, Lagos where he was raised. Like AQ, he attended King's College, Lagos and then studied Business Administration at Babcock University. As a teenager, he would cut class to go to the studio and get his nerd on with recording even in his school uniform.

He had grown up in a family of music-loving parents who were avid vinyl owners and Teddy Pendergrass lovers. He tells Pulse, "Both my folks loved music. I remember we used to have those vinyl records all over the place because the place where we stored them was already full. My dad would listen to his N.W.A while my mum be on her Teddy Pendergrass.

"I have a picture where according to my mum, I was told to strike a pose with anything in the living room and the first thing I went for where speakers. She says that was the first time she realized that I would do music."

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While most people know BeatsByJayy more now as a producer, Big Daddy Jayy, the artist was born first as a rapper, but not under that moniker. He took inspiration from Kanye West and Guru who have hands-on approach to making their own music, started producing and found a pocket for himself.

On his journey to being a rapper and producer he says, "I was a rapper. It’s like the early 2000s and it’s either Channel O, my small palito radio for Rhythm top 7 by 7 or later, a disc man on my 12th birthday. I had all the reigning rap albums from Nelly, Ja rule, 50 cent... you name it - I was the plug.

"When I was 10 or 11, we got those old big desktop home PC. All I wanted to do with it was play games until a friend gave me a disk that had multiple softwares on it. One of the 'games' on it happened to be Fruity Loops 3, a music production software. At that time I thought it was a game that made sounds.

"Trust me, I made the wackiest beats ever in the early days. But with a few YouTube tutorials later as I grew and a lot of sleepless nights, I figured my way around the software."

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These days, Jayy jokes that his sound is extra-terrestrial, but then sums it up by saying, "It comes from within. I’m too versatile to limit my music to one genre. Yes I love Hip-Hop, but I could make R&B, Jazz and more."

Most people have a grand reveal about when they realized their career path while others work their way to it. Jayy is the former. He says, "There was this day at Silverbird Galleria. Mo'Hits Records were doing an album signing for their CV album and I got a signed copy. By just looking at these guys, the looked like true examples of stars. From there, I was sure I was going to get there no matter what it took."

A career in music can be hard - especially for producers. Jayy has never thought about getting a day job. Instead, he's making money the right way. He says, "Produce, make money from clients and then sponsor the music career - that’s how it’s been for me so far. I have never been officially signed or sponsored."

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On whether he would ever sign a record deal or get a sponsor, Jayy says, "If it's worth it, why not? I understand the industry properly, so I'm sure to be careful when it comes to such."

AQ started rapping in the early 2000s. His debut project, Listen and Overstand was released in 2005 when he was still a teenager. His viral '(W)rap Nigeria' single, an attack on Nigerian Hip-Hop royalty was released early and it was produced by Kraftmatiks. When BeatysByJayy started skipping school for studio sessions, he met AQ.

He says, "When I cut class in my school uniform to go to a studio, A-Q happened worked and recorded in that same studio. Knowing that A-Q was also a graduate of the Kings College - where I was schooling at the time, I was confident that he wouldn’t ignore me, so I walked up to him and told him, 'I'm going to produce your next song and it would be mad.'

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"He was like, 'Okay, let’s go.' But then, I didn’t even have a laptop then so AQ thought I was a joke and left the studio to his friend's house. I ran home, borrowed my friend's laptop, installed the software and then went to meet AQ at his friend's place. When I got there, I plugged the aux of his sound system to the laptop. In like 30 minutes, we were on our way back to the studio to record instant chemistry."

Jayy has produced on AQ's last five projects, but some people still don't know who he is. While he has words for those people, he also accepts some responsibility, "I think they are just ignorant but I need to step out my comfort zone to finally get the attention needed and it’s finally starting to happen."

Jaynius is Jayy's third EP in three years. The first was in 2017. It took Jayy almost two years to make the EP - he kept scraping and reworking certain parts till he felt the project was ready. While the project had been done for a while, Jayy had numerous botched plans to release it. Then, he chose the middle of a pandemic with loads of other releases. To him, Jaynius is a passion project and nothing was going to stop its release.

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He says, "From the title, 'Jayynius' alone, which is gotten from merging 'Jay' with 'genius,' I wanted it to show that my other skills than making dope Hip-Hop beats. I wanted to show my versatility. I hope the EP gives me a spot in the industry because me I go worry ooo for real (laughs)."

On one of the songs off Jaynius, Jayy features new Spaceship artist, Buju. On making that music, Jayy says, "Buju is an old friend and literally my school son in uni. I just told him the direction, sent him the record and he sent in his takes."

With a burgeoning catalogue of good Hip-Hop albums, Jayy could be starting greatness in the face soon. On that he says, "I always knew I had it in me, but I also knew it would take some time...patience is the name of the game here."

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On his plans for the rest of 2020, Jayy says, "I don't want to predict, I honestly hope it treats me well."

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