Krizbeatz the drummer boy loves a good challenge. He wants anything but a static life. From producing, to audio engineering, to software development and songwriting, Krizbeatz would never stop evolving.
“One day, I asked myself who made the software I was using to make music. And I have the ability to learn anything really quickly. I did some research and I built something quite small for the start,” he says with glee.
“I also started exploring how content and marketing works. I found out that storytelling is different from telling stories and that is what drove me into making an album in sixty days,” he explains.
With over a decade of experience working as a producer and songwriter in the Nigerian music scene, and too many hits in the bag including the legendary Tekno’s Pana and so many others, Krizbeatz has managed to earn both a good name for himself and an incredible catalog of hits.
We talk about these and more in this interview piece which has been edited for length and clarity.
Did you have any programming background before you picked up audio programming in 2025?
Zero. And I kid you not – so far, I have learnt Python, Javascript and more languages.
Did you make any new year resolutions?
I don’t really make resolutions. My style is that I start the year before it unfolds. For instance, I started my 2026 in September so, by December 2025, I was already in March 2026. This is my technique for getting things done because once I get excited about something, I get into it without looking back.
Your album was released last November. Was that intentional?
I was making an album in sixty days.
Why?
I wanted to release an album to mark my tenth year as a mainstream producer and because I already released a project in late 2024, I wanted to do something different and I wanted to do it in a way that allowed the people to create the music with me. With the project, the focus was never the numbers, which is to say – I’m not trying to feature the big names, I just wanted to work with people with amazing talent and work ethics. My first album had Davido and Tekno. The second had Diamond Platnumz.
The label’s expectation would be to go up from there, but I’ve always liked to discover what the new talents sound like. If you look at my other project “The King of the New Wave”, it featured Victony and Fave during their underground years. I started working with Fave when she had just 2,000 Instagram followers.
That was the idea with this new project. Usually, it takes me years to finish an album because I am a perfectionist and I like to be in control of the sound, but I announced that I was going to work on an album in sixty days. I wanted the artists and the people to be in control of the sound down to the mixing and I documented it. The crazy part is the documentation. It’s easy to make songs but when you make songs with the purpose of documentation it becomes quite tricky and demanding.
Why?
Because you have to be cautious of everything, so you don’t miss important moments. It’s like shooting a movie and making a song. And then, there’s the keeping to time part.
With how saturated Q4 was, do you think the album dropping at that time was a disadvantage or that it doesn’t matter?
I think it doesn’t really matter because music will always find its way. You cannot listen to one person for 24 hours. It boils down to how you want people to listen to your music. Do you want people to listen to your music on social media or actively search on streaming platforms? People will always find time to listen to music that they love.
Why was the album titled Ifeanyichukwu?
First, I am an Igbo boy and Ifeanyichukwu is my name. The name means “the God of impossibility”. I decided to name it this as a symbol of my roots because for a long time I have not really added a significant aspect of my roots to my work. I wanted to get a chieftancy title before doing the album but it was going to lapse the expected time of the album’s arrival. I am from Ebonyi state.
There are a lot of collaborations on the album. There’s one with Kel-P. What’s your relationship with him like?
I’ve known Kel-P from his early days with Sarz. I’m a people person. I like to push people to do things they don’t feel comfortable with. When I worked with B-Red, we made hits back to back: same thing with Skales and Bella Shmurda. If you noticed, Bella’s sound changed after he dropped Philo, I’ve always had that effect on people.
With Kel-P, I’ve always been the one to tell him to do whatever he wanted without caring much about what people would say, whether it be with transitioning from producing to singing. If I someday realise that I have a good voice and singing is something I’d like to pursue, I’ll definitely do it. I have written almost all the songs I produced because I enjoy writing, I enjoy the process. Music is supposed to be enjoyed, especially for the creators.
Before this, whenever I found music that I liked — regardless of who the artist is, I would just reach out to them. Before “Pana”, I posted a trap beat online and Tekno reached out saying he liked the drums on the beat and he would like to hop on it. He sent me the message on Instagram but I didn’t see it because I wasn’t online much at the time. Tekno later got my contact from Spyro at a party and sent me the message again and that was how we started working together. And the first song we made together was Pana.
If you were to pick a favourite track on the project, what song would it be and why?
Done Making Friends with Bad Boy Timz and Kel-P. Why? Because I’m done making friends.
The opening track sounds so personal. Did you make that track with anyone in mind?
I make music based on how I’m feeling at the moment. The track wasn’t really based on a person but more of a series of experiences.
The project is here now, what’s next?
We have about four new collaborations with the “top league”. I think I have done this for the league I intended it for. I’m not tired of pushing the songs. I still promote music I released even from four years back. All the tracks on the album will have a music video.
After everything, what would give you that sense of fulfilment?
When I create everything that God has put in me and I’m able to see it come to life not just do it to make money off it. Even if it doesn’t work out, I want to know that at least I tried it. When you’re alive, try everything. I don’t believe in sticking to one thing.
Itty can be caught studying African pop culture, writing about it or hosting a relationship podcast. When he's not doing any of these, then he's definitely at a bar, getting mocktail.
