If ever anyone would have to tell a difference between Mastakraft and Rexxie,it is that Mastakraft is a producer while Rexxie is a beat maker.The sound tells you everything to expect before you know who these talented soundsmiths are-Mastakraft, at least a decade older with a mostly agbada or suit dress code and Rexxie,much younger with colourful dreads,skinny jeans and boots.The one thing off is while Rexxie deserves more credit than anyone for the new wave street hop movement,he hasn't been as adventurous with the vigour of youth with his sounds as Mastakraft has been.Rexxie seems content with making street hop and afro-pop hits (back to back I must add) but 'Mastaa' has stretched to just about every music genre from house to kwaito.The magical sound of Funkie featuring Tamba Hali is the best testament to how far-reaching Masta's width can stretch.
Either way,both are among the finest producers in the country; top 3 perhaps and when both decided to bless music lovers with their bodies of work within the space of 4 days,it was special.
One thing was certain from the very jump-Rexxie was likelier to serve up the most hits for the younger and far more populated audience that want to dance and sing along while Mastakraft was going to make the more beautiful music.
As far as expectations go,Rexxie does serve up a mostly street hop content with quite a number of catchy tunes; the most impressive being Mofoti 2.0 feat Naira Marley and Sarkodie (if of course one takes out the pre-released Ko po Ke feat Mohbad which is one of the biggest hits in the country).Masta was always going to show off the knack for making those breath-taking instrumentals that require minimal vocal input and he does so fabulously well on the opening 2 tracks of his 7 track Masta Groove EP-Brown Skin with a spoken word flowetry and Big Man Rhythm feat Selebobo.For the pop songs,you can almost feel with your skin Rexxie's desire to speak to versatility when he opens A True Champion with 2 pop songs back to back-Frenemies feat Oxlade and Boi Boi feat Teni.But it is on 2 low tempo songs that we see how well he can do out of his comfort zone- All; a mesmerizing love song feat Davido and For You feat Lyta and Emo Grae.
No disrespect to the phenomenal talent of Rexxie but Mastakraft is a more versatile producer; the 'real' producer school which places much emphasis on all facets of the sound.Uluuluu feat Mr Talkbox and Abeykehh feat Diamond Platnumz and Flavour best attest to that.The beat doesn't have to be catchy,neither does the lyrics,everything just needs to come together to form a magnificent whole.Masta Groove sounds more like a producer's body of work than Rexxie's A True Champion.It doesn't show off beats or an intimidating guest list,it above everything else,shows off production skills.
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