To be a music producer is to be accept being left in the shadows sometimes and not getting full credit for your contribution to songs. It’s not at all an ideal situation, and it’s perhaps worse in our industry where proper documentation of the culture is insufficiently done. Instrumentals play such a major role in public perception of music today and literally make or mar songs most times. Admittedly, the situation is improving and mainstream music producers are beginning to get due recognition today, but some of their counterparts that create defining sounds of less mainstream music are still being slept on. One of such is the talented phenomenon that helped shape the Alternative music scene in Nigeria; his name is Chigozie Ngini, better known by his alias, Higo.
A young Chigozie fell in love with music as a child and at the prompt of his dad, started taking piano lessons at age 7. It was when he got into secondary school and met Remy Baggins – social prefect of their secondary school at the time – that he really started focusing his efforts on making beats. He would send beats to artistes to jump on but responses were few and far between. Rather than let that affect his work ethic, he spent more and more time getting better at navigating Fruity Loops and other music production applications. He formed a collective of music producers known as 80sounds with Le Mav, Sosa, Tobi, Hvrry, and DOZ, and together they pushed themselves to make the unique sounds that went on to form the foundation for Alte music movement.
Looking at the catalogue of songs Higo has produced over the years, it’s actually shocking he has not achieved the level of popularity that matches the quality he has put out. In 2016, he produced the sounds on which Odunsi recorded “Desire” and “Situationships”, two songs that went viral during the “SoundCloud era”. Psycho YP has him to thank for the production of “Hennessy”, “Standard”, and “Black Card”, songs that featured on his breakthrough debut project, “YPSZN”. For Santi, he produced “Raining Outside” and “Raw Dinner”, both of which were jams on his critically acclaimed “Mandy & The Jungle”. For MI Abaga, he made “Slow” and “Soup” off the famous “Rendezvous” playlist. Tim Lyre, Fasine, prettyboydo are other artistes for which he has made songs that went on to do solid numbers.
He has been very vocal about his discontent with the blind eye the industry has turned to his efforts and that of his cohorts in pushing the boundaries of music behind the scenes. Probably in a move to get his plaudits now and secure the bag, he has shifted to being the titular name on songs and featuring artistes like many producers tend to do. In collaboration with HVRRY, he put out a 2-pack EP that featured Buju, WANI and Minz. This follows 2018’s “Friday Night” single that featured David Meli and Fasina. More recently in March this year, he was featured twice on Karun’s “Catch A Vibe” EP.
The recognition might still be slow and disproportionate to his insane level of skill, but at least the industry and music listeners are gradually getting to know him for who he is. We definitely haven’t seen the last of Higo and he certainly is just getting started on his quest to positively impact the Nigerian music soundscape. His imprint on the Alte Music Scene, whether credited or not, is already undeniable, and you sense Higo will be having his name up in lights in the next few years, like he rightfully deserves.