Naira Marley, Zlatan, Burna Boy, Niniola dominate Rexxie's and Kel P's battle of hits

On April 3, 2020, Nigerian producers, Kel P and Rexxie became the third set of producers in the COVID-19-induced Instagram Live-based 'Battle of Hits.' Already, we've had a bowl of nostalgia as Sarz and Shizzi battled it out. We've also had polarizing drama as Masterkraft and Pheelz faced off some days later.

ALSO READ: Sarz and Shizzi - Battle of Hits

But on this night, Kel P and Rexxie who are two of the leading producers from the new generation faced of at 10 pm. They were nominated by Sarz and Shizzi at the end of the first Battle of Hits.

The event

Before 10 pm, Rexxie was on his Instagram Live entertaining fans and warming up with his usual energy. He was dancing, merrying and smoking in what looked like a studio while his friend, Poco Lee was being a terrorist in the comments section as usual. Kel P joined the session around 10:06 pm. But immediately he joined, they had network issues and that represented the first of the three offline moments they had on the night.

Nonetheless, they resumed and played some of their most popular songs. At its height, they generated 6,235 viewers. By the end of the night, they had played about 40 songs including Rexxie's hits for Naira Marley and Zlatan. For his part, Kel P mostly played songs from the Grammy nominated album, African Giant by Burna Boy.

To be honest, the fact that both men - though massively - talented were new slightly dampened expectations. On the night, both producers played songs that are not even worthy of being called hits. Yet, both of them called those songs hits. It seemed like the definition of 'a hit' eluded them both.

Not all good and well-received songs are hits. Not all popular songs are hits and not all successful songs are hits. Nonetheless, Rexxie and Kel P must also be praised. Within the short time that they have been popular as major mainstream producers, they have both developed a strong catalogue - which is just commendable.

However, there were times when it felt their respective sounds sounded increasingly monotonous.The best thing about Kel P vs Rexxie is the mutual respect and calmness between both. They had greater fun than the two before them.

Who won?

It's very simple; Rexxie won. Strictly off hits over the past three years, only Killertunes and maybe Pheelz can stand toe-to-toe with Rexxie. While Kel P might actually be the better musician and music producer with a head for crafting resonant sounds, Rexxie is a beat-maker that birthed a pop sound that lasted for two years.

Last year alone, Rexxie produced the following hits, 'Soapy' 'Mafo' and 'Am I A Yahoo Boy' for Naira Marley as well as 'Yeye Boyfriend' for Zlatan. On his part, the conversation that Kel P actually produced an undisputable hit last year will generate some conversation because people feel 'Another Story' and 'Dangote' were hits and they were not - they were simply successful, popular and good songs.

The only genuine hit Kel P produced in 2019 was 'Killin Dem' and it was released in December 2018. On the topic of hits, Killertunes vs. Rexxie might have been a fairer battle.

The big conversation from this face-off is simple; what is a hit? That will be answered in another article.