In 2023, Global Afrobeats superstar Davido went on a quest to redeem himself after mixed acclaim of his last album ‘A Better Time.’ Almost immediately after Davido’s fourth studio album ‘Timeless’ dropped, one log drum and shaker heavy Afropiano song took the whole country by storm. It was quite a familiar sound, the country had heard Magicsticks on so many Asake songs that we never got to give flowers to an unsung hero in the story of Davido getting a top 10 entry on the UK and Billboard Afrobeats charts respectively. In no time the tagline ‘Initiating, Rage Process’ would become one of the most popular taglines in Nigerian and African music.
A quick trip down Ragee’s X page and you’ll find a tweet that both documents his achievements in the industry in the last 6 months and also subtly manifests the next 6 months. The post reads “This year started so well for me. Commas is #1 on Apple Music Nigeria charts. Many more to come !!!.” You would agree that no truer words have been spoken when you reel out the achievements and credits to the Producer’s name in 2024 alone.
These credits run from Mavins First Lady, Ayra Starrr’s ‘Commas‘ and ‘Woman Commando’ off her critically acclaimed sophomore album and Odumodublvck’s and ‘Oshimiri’ with Davido signers Peruzzi and Logos Olori who also worked with Ragee on Davido’s ‘Picassso’ back in 2023.
The list goes on and on.
But way before all of this, a song he produced for YBNL Nation’s Bad Boy Timz set the motion for Ragee’s career in the mainstream Nigerian music industry. To fully understand the genius of Ragee, we have to go further back to way before he met Producer Magicsticks, way before he produced songs for YBNL and Mavins acts, way before he met Davido and had a song on International charts, and way before he made it to the Nigerian Producers to watch list, back to when he was just Ikechukwu Clinton Nnaemeka born to Igbo Parents in Lagos city in 1997.
The Anambra native’s lore begins in a very familiar place as most other music acts, especially in Nigeria. The acclaimed producer began his musical journey in Church as a drummer before eventually pivoting into the choir back in the days when the Afrobeats sound had not been properly curated and documented.
Little did he know that he would grow to become one of the beacons that would help shape the sound and take it across the globe, given that his original genre was Hip Hop, and not even as a producer but as a rap artiste, before pivoting to a singer and later a Producer officially in 2017, using his free time to joggle honing his production skills and studying Computer Science in Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.
It didn’t take very long for his hard work and love for making music pay off, he first got to the notice of acclaimed Nigerian Producer Magicsticks and they formed a creative partnership that would eventually change the history of Afrobeats in a few years, but at the time the biggest height Ragee had reached was providing the Instrumental for the minor hit ‘Have Fun’ by the then new YBNL signee, Bad Boy Timz. He kept on working for several artists in the mainstream and underground including producing ‘Chocolat’ for Mavin signee Magixx.
Soon after “Initiating, Rage process” was heard on dozens of songs all over radio stations and clubs in Lagos, Abuja and beyond, leading to major recognition from one of Nigeria’s biggest music media houses Pulse Nigeria, when they included him in their Top 10 Nigerian Producers in 2022.
Subsequent to securing an endorsement from Pulse Nigeria, Ragee’s trajectory experienced a meteoric ascent when Magicsticks, with intuitively forwarded one of his demo compositions to Davido, who was concurrently working on his fourth studio album and and actively seeking innovative sonic contributions from new and fresh, external producers.
The next call Ragee received from Magicsticks would change his life forever, in a few months he was on his way to having two songs on one of the biggest African albums of 2023. ‘Unavailable‘ featuring South African singer Musa Keys would eventually rise to #8 on the Billboard Afrobeats chart and #1 on the UK Afrobeats Chart en route to a nomination at the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony.
36,000 followers may not be much for a celebrity but two songs he has produced in 2024 alone have hit 62 million and 3.8 million streams respectively, alongside the recent contribution alongside Producer Hardwerk to produce International R&B star, Chris Brown’s first single of the year, ‘Sensational’ featuring Davido and Lojay.
This is Ragee’s first International production credit since the beginning of his career. His journey into music production has evidently shown the power of consistency and hard work in perfecting one’s skill.
In July 2024, Ragee contributed his unique sonic skills to Odumodublvck and BOJ’s ‘Jabo,’ a sharp contrast from the loud, up-tempo Afropiano of ‘Unavailable’ and the mid-tempo Afro-R&B melodies of Ayra’s ‘Commas,’ beating any possible one trick pony accusations.
Definitely one of the most exciting names, and one of the most recognizable taglines in Nigerian music today, Ragee has drummed his way to the top of the pantheons of Afrobeats, at a very peculiar time in music history— in the heat of the globalization of local Nigerian music.
Ragee has worked on successful records with several A-List and B-List artists and has become one of the biggest music producers in the country. Indeed the Anambra born and Lagos-bred beatmaker is “just getting started.”
