Edgar Nabeyin Panford is a Ghanaian American-born multi-platinum music producer from San Bernardino, CA. And he shares his musical journey with TV3 NewDay as he talks about passion, perseverance and being good at what he does.
After about 14 years in the industry, Nabeyin has worked with top guns from all over the world, including Kanye West, Drake, Nas, Rocky Dawuni, The Game, Miguel, Reason, Isaiah Rashad, Wale and Dave East.
Telling his story, Nabeyin spoke of his childhood and how his brother introduced him to music. Initially, it was all fun and game until he was so drawn into it that he decided to make a career out of it.
“My brother gK used to be part of this group called KgPM. He moved to the states in 2001. So around that time, he didn’t have his producer, who was Hammer. So he was trying to teach himself how to make beats. Through that, I picked it up. He was teaching me to make this and that.”
When it came to family support and acceptance, he revealed how his family wasn’t accepting of his decision to pursue music. But his mom worried about him not finishing his schooling before delving into his passion.
“I remember when i first graduated from High school, they were like, oh, what do you want to do. I said that I want to make music. They said no, you can either be in engineering or nursing. I already knew that’s not what i wanted to do. But I tried to stick to what they wanted me to do.
“They didn’t understand it until the Drake placement happened. And that was when they were like, Okay, I see what you were doing. My mom has always been supportive because all she cared about was me finishing school. She was like, finish school, and after school, you can do whatever you want.”
For Edgar, getting his beat on a big artiste such as Drake right after completing his MA was one of the biggest legs up’s he needed to push his career. “Drake’s Nothing Was the Same piece. That was my first major replacement. I always thought i was going to have to work my way up… work with a bunch of smaller placements and build my name up,” he shared with pride in his voice.
Currently, Nabeyin is back in his motherland, Ghana, to interact with other like-minded music lovers whilst sampling the news songs and talent on his vacation.
By Grace Somuah-Annan|3news.com|Ghana