When an afrobeats song becomes a hit most of the praise is often attributed to the artist. The producer, who carefully crafts a song's underlying rhythm, tends to be an unsung hero. In afrobeats, a genre that relies heavily on rhythm and danceable instrumentals, music producers are equally responsible for its greatest hits.

It takes at least two skill sets to make an afrobeats song. Vocals melodies are to the underlying rhythm like Yin is to Yang, on their own they’re incomplete, but together they become a wholesome form. Song producers' contributions to the global rise of afrobeats are immeasurable.

We spoke to three Nigerian music producers with multiple hits in their catalogues; P.Priime, the 19-year-old entrusted with Wizkid’s “Anoti,” Olamide’s “Infinity” & “Loading,” and very recently Reekado Banks’ “Ozumba Mbadiwe.” Tempoe, who produced Ckay’s global phenomenon “Love Nwantiti,” Omah Lay’s smash hits “Godly” & “Understand” and Joeboy’s “Sip (Alcohol). And Rexxie, the Grammy-winning producer familiar from Naira Marley hits like “Coming,” “Soapy” and “Am I A Yahoo Boy,” and a viral hit of his own “KPK.”

The three told OkayAfrica about how some of their hit songs came to be, how producers can take more hold of credit for their work, and things that their contemporaries should always pay attention to.