Building a music brand is tough — Makeni Beats

Rita Okoye

American based Sierra Leone born music producer and singer, Ray Smith, popularly known as Makeni Beats who’s best known for hit songs like ‘Big Wase’ and ‘Makeni Beats’ has announced his plans to popularize the Makeni Beats in the black continent in no distant time.
In a chat with TSWeekend, Makeni said his going to use the rest of the year in promoting his brand back home.
“The rest of 2020 for me is all about promotion. That’s the most difficult part of the music business. Building a brand is tough but expect to hear Makeni Beats all over Africa soon.”
“Musically, I will be ready to make beats for any artiste who wants to warm the dance floor,” said Makeni.
Speaking further, the music producer said he’s looking forward to organizing concerts Africa. He’s also interested in collaborating with top Nigerian music acts such as Naira Marley, Patoranking, Wizkid among others.
On what inspires his music, he adds that creativity inspires him a lot.
“I’m always inspired by quality work. Those times when something is more than just good. For instance Soco from Wizkid was an excellent song but the video went the extra mile, the icing on the cake. I still watch it after all this time. The colour is maxxed out in every scene, the dancers are edited hard on the beat, and the locations give it that cool street vibe. Clarence Peters the video maker is totally brilliant. And it was made in Nigeria, Africa,” he said.
Makeni started selling beats to groups like Reggaeton and producing his own songs after he was a studio recording engineer for ten years.