Quick Questions With 44DB
You might wonder what 11 producers and about 5 auxiliary staff members have in common. Aside from being “nerds”, the answer is simple and straight to the point: World domination.
For this edition, we speak to members of the 44DB Super Producer Collective; Step by step, these young creatives are focused on making music and experimenting with sounds and won’t stop until their name is etched everywhere, leaving a significant mark in music as well as the soundbites shaping memories.
What’s the most Pointless Superpower you can imagine?
Johnson: I would say invisibility is such a dumbass power. Why can’t we see you do something?
Trillxoe: I guess being able to breathe in space
Johnson: Unless you can fly
Trillxoe: Unless, but that combo will be rare.
What is one line of morality, the 44DB collective will unanimously agree never to cross?
Trillxoe: I personally won’t cross the line to kill and I think everyone will agree.
Johnson: Yeah, killing is crazy.
What is the meaning behind the name 44DB, and what does it stand for?
Johnson: DB means decibels (dB), It is the units in which sound is measured.
Trillxoe: One time we were on Twitter and someone said 44dB means “44 Debe.” That will always kill me.
Johnson; That is my last caption on Instagram. I need an “Ama Kip Kip” tee and at the back, I’ll write 44 DEBE.
Would you rather sacrifice your first love or a 44DB member?
Trillxoe: I’ll sacrifice a 44DB member for sure.
Johnson: wait is it at random or can I pick?
You can pick and the person wouldn’t know that it is you
Trillxoe: If I can pick I’ll pick sha, I will pick, IP.
Jonhson: Ahan na, regardless of picking or not. It will still be them.
Malik: do you know the funny thing, the 44 member will understand
Johnson: yes they will understand that it is for love and they will free me.
Johnson mentioned this is a creative community of 11 producers, are there any other auxiliary members that make up 44dB aside from the producers?
Malik: It is not just producers, we have producers and people who believe in 44 and bring their own skill sets to the team. Like graphic designers and social media management. It is like a whole group of people putting their resources together to see 44 grow.
Johnson; I think including our lawyer we are like 17 or 16 in total.
Trillxoe: we are not a group of 44 people as people think.
What will you say you all share in common?
Trillxoe and Johnson in unison: we are nerds
Malik: I think that is the most common thing we have aside from making music
Trillxoe: We are really nerds
Johnson; True, in our first two years we were just playing mind craft.
Malik: we need to run it back
How long did creating 44DB take?
Trillxoe: I would say that we created it when we intended to and we set at it almost instantly. Obviously getting ready to start took time.
We are so spontaneous, someone already made Instagram and Twitter. So it was just us going off from that. It just started.
Malik: I don’t think there was an initial plan.
Trillxoe: yeah it was a spontaneous p and it flew.
How would you describe your relationship? How did you all meet, and were you friends beforehand?
Malik; It is brazy, I think Johnson should answer this.
Johnson; umm, I went to primary school with Dera, I went to high school with Tobi. JDK, John, and Tochi went to uni together. I know Malik from SoundCloud. I know Trillxoe from Lagos. Lex knows Malik. Tochi knows Jessi.
Malik: I went to the same secondary school with Lex btw.
Johnson: I, Vin, Tochi, and Trillxoe, were all on a group chat.
It was just a bunch of creatives in Nigeria and they had like 200 producers and artists.44db is like a smaller version of that group, exclusives.
Are there membership rights or a hierarchy involved in the coordination of the 44DB collective?
Trillxoe; For instance, you have to make sacrifices for the things you love. So it depends on the sacrifices you make for 44dB and then you will increase in the ranks.
KD: From the view of the members we would like to feel like there is democracy, and everyone gets heard equally. However, there is obviously a hierarchy, due to there being co-founders and guys like me that joined after. I would say there are member rights, but we are all treated equally. So it’s all good.
Malik:Yeah in a big group just like ours, you need some form of structure. I wouldn’t say hierarchy, but for sure some people oversee things so things get done.
Okay, so who are the people who oversee things?
Malik; IP answer na
Johnson: So it is, I, Trill, JDK, Tochi, Malik, John, and Vin all help out with the admin stuff. Jaiye helps out with marketing as well. So that is the dream team.
Trillxoe; yeah but everyone still gets wind of what is going on.
What does the future look like for 44dB? Are you considering recording camps or concert ideas?
Trillxoe: World Domination
Johnson; Do you know what is crazy, I was going to say “World Domination” too.
Trillxoe: World domination in every aspect. We just plan on being there 24/7 in everyone’s faces. “Even if you no wan see us you go still see us.” If you notice we have been carrying the music industry consistently from the underside and the people are gradually getting familiar.
Going off the progress you have made in recent years, I don’t think it is possible for people not to know you. Individually you have all delivered impressive and impeccable quality stamps on the projects you have worked on.
KD; There was an era when none of us had pictures on our socials.
Why if I may ask?
Trillxoe; we dey form mysterious
Johnson: It was a marketing play that was proven to have worked in that period. But now everyone wants to see our personality.
For your next project, are we going to be seeing more sound experimentation?
Trillxoe: Always
Johnson:There is always new bounce and that pre.. the vibe. Especially with that project, a lot of the songs were old songs, that we either just revamped or mixed differently.
Hence the name Lost files. Our next release will have recent songs, things within the last two years. Expect Fire.
Will you say you are into sampling and is there any artiste in particular in whom the 44DB collective will be interested in sampling?
Malik: Omo
KD: I will sample Kanye’s shit
Johnson: I’ll sample something from Alex Lustig
Trillxoe: I’ll definitely sample something from Childish Gambino and maybe Sunny Ade.
What song do you wish was a 44dB production?
Trillxoe; Rema’s Hov.
The 44DB initiative, serves as the super producer-dynamo within the music industry, they have proven themselves both individually and as a collective. The team made up of Trilllxoe, Lex, Tobi Fads, Johnson IP, Tochi Bedford, Malik, John Wav, Dj Lolu, KD and, Jesse Alordiah makes up recognisable faces within the inner circle, popularly known for their opulent production.