DeeYasso is the Producer Behind Afropop’s Most Soulful Records

Four years ago on Valentine’s Day, an album quietly dropped amidst Afropop shores. Rocked by musical ambition and the effortless swell of its execution, that album would sail onto deeper seas of legacy, and right now stands among the core pieces of the contemporary Nigerian music scene.

That album is Boo of the Booless, in which Chike’s graceful worldbuilding met DeeYasso’s compositional brilliance. It was a breakthrough for both of them and the culmination of a long journey for DeeYasso, whose foray into production kicked off 14 years before then.

Having a laptop made it easier to learn production software, and even though in 2016 he graduated with a law degree, he continued making sounds and tagging artists with his work. Two years later, Chike would contact and fly him to Lagos. “We were meant to do a song or two, but we ended up doing more than an album,” recounts DeeYasso.

DeeYasso also has significant production on The Brother’s Keeper and Son of Chike, the follow-up projects from the Nigerian singer. His prowess shines in the understated balance of the songs; far from a showman, DeeYasso’s style aims to blend with the artist’s own sound. Sometimes you don’t even hear the beat — it becomes one with the voice. For an Afrobeats producer, this is a noteworthy skill, especially considering the hypervigilant drums the movement has made its name on.

Last year, “Egwu,” featuring the late Mohbad, would become one of the songs of its era, a bubbly sonic trip that basks in the thrills of music. Recorded by Chike, its popularity further entrenched DeeYasso in conversations about the most forward-facing producers around, a recognition he’s seized upon since then.

When I asked the producer about the signatures in his sound, it was no surprise that he mentioned the live guitars. He just, “tries to make [his] sounds as musical as possible, no matter how simple it might be,” he says. “I love to do my percussion live too. When I need horns, I invite horn men to play live, just to give the music quality. When I need violins, I invite violinists to come play. Because once those things are played live, I think it interprets the dynamics very well.”

It’s a full circle moment considering that DeeYasso now counts these figures among his peers. He’s following even more prestigious steps, as he’s recently become a Grammy Awards nominee for his production on “Tomorrow,” the record from Yemi Alade. As the lead single from the artist’s Rebel Queen, its vibrant presence found quite the powerful ears in the Recording Academy.

Recounting the song’s creation, DeeYasso recalls that he’d gone to a recording camp in January where he met the superstar. “It was in that camp I made the instrumental for ‘Tomorrow.’ We wrote the song and we recorded it in that camp,” he says. “It was not even planned, it was just a vibe that came there. That day we did about four songs and, after the camp, we did post-production, added more vocals, and that was it.”