It’s beautiful to see Nigerian producers enjoy more of the spotlight for their contributions to the globalization of Afrobeats. There are so many talented beatmakers worth mentioning, and Tuzi is certainly staking his claim to a spot on that list. Tuzi has scored production credits on at least one hit single for every year of the last five years. The latest in that growing catalogue is Omah Lay’s number one single “reason,” a track which has quickly emerged as the runaway favourite on the deluxe version of his debut project. The instrumental is a big reason behind the song’s success, and Tuzi is entirely the reason for that instrumental.
Before the success of “reason” and other hit songs, Tuzi was Opara Micheal Ugochukwu, a young boy who immediately fell in love with instruments. His first introduction to instrumentation was the traditional music his parents and other oldheads around entertained themselves with. It certainly made an impression on him and inspired him to explore the sonic side of music further. His search led him to the church choir, where he found his match in percussive instruments. Tuzi went deeper still and discovered digital audio workstations in 2010. After five years of honing his craft and upgrading his skillset, he emerged in 2015 as a professional music producer and audio engineer.
When you hear “along came Tuzi” – the beatmaker’s delightful producer tag – there’s a guarantee you’re about to listen to a very carefully constructed beat. The anecdote behind his first collaboration with Omah Lay on “Can’t Relate” proves how meticulous Tuzi is when called to make a beat. Rather than create the instrumental and have Omah Lay record on it, the pair worked in reverse mode, with the singer sending an acapella version for the producer to create a beat around. As you can testify from listening to the track again, he created a perfect beat that captured the many intense emotions in Omah Lay’s words. Although he doesn’t always follow this unorthodox process, you are assured of the same detailed production across all his credit. Perfectly placed instrumental melodies, timely log drums, and sounds that build up to a satisfying crescendo are trademarks of Tuzi’s production.
By virtue of his unique characteristics, Tuzi has been able to attract some of the industry’s finest artists. In addition to the two records with Omah Lay, he has worked with Blaqbonez on “Faaji,” “Reekando Banks on “Rora,” Skiibii on “Sensima,” and Terri on “Ode.” Tuzi has also created some gems in the company of upcoming acts, including King Perry, Barry Jhay, and Balloranking. All of this has happened in only five years, and one can imagine there is much more to come. Tuzi has teased the possibility of more music with him as the lead, a logical progression for him if he’s to get a bigger share of the pie in terms of recognition and profit. He has just one single so far, his debut single “Shanor” with Asake and 1da Banton in 2020 and it has scored over a million streams across all platforms. But whether he takes the credit as a producer or artist, we can be sure that we’ll be treated to sumptuous, near-perfect production.