Grammy winners in SA to help produce hits

Grammy-nominated American music producers Roark Bailey, Nelson “Nellz” Kyle, DeJuan Cross, who are behind some of the biggest international acts, are currently in a villa in Cape Town  to open doors for SA artists.

Accompanied by Grammy-nominated songwriters Trinidad James, V-Script and A1 Laflare, the group is here to leverage Safety Club’s impeccable experience to help South African artists put their foot through the door to potentially signing with international publishers or labels. 

The groups, as a collective, have produced hits for big music giants such as Drake, Lil Wayne, Diddy, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Nas, Future, Chris Brown, SAINt JHN, Post Malone and many more. 

Having jointly amassed multiple Grammy nominations, over four platinums and a dozen gold selling records, Safety Club is facilitating a life-changing songwriting and music producing experience for local artists and creatives such as Youngsta CPT, Shekinah, Paxton Fielies and DSB. 

Safety Club’s 10-day music camp is a partnership with Gallo Record Company.

The Safety Club concept was first brought to life during the pandemic in 2020 by Bailey who together with his Atlanta and Los Angeles team conducted hit making music camps to commercially produce competitive records in the international music sphere. 

“Because I had done a lot of engineering work in my career and being a producer and a writer, I felt I needed to actively make space for production that will be a safe place for like-minded producers and songwriters who can get together and, without judgment, create hit songs,” says Bailey who began playing guitar at the age of 13 and played in bands throughout college. 

“It’s my second time coming to SA. It’s truly an honour to be flown down here in Cape Town to possibly make a hit song for one of the artists attending this camp. ”

The American music engineer and musician, who is one of the most sought after producers in the international industry, adds that although the camp runs for just a couple of days, he along with Cross and Kyle believe Safety Club’s musical influence will help bridge Africa with the American sound.

“Besides the beats and songs, we are here to bring genuine relationships, love and good energy. I want to bring authenticity to this camp that will translate into the music we will create. I look forward to experimenting and exchanging thoughts with the local artists joining this club and we will possibly have a long lasting hit,” said Cross, who is a two-time Grammy nominated producer. He won in 2022 for Eric Bellinger’s album New Light. 

Kyle, a music engineer in the Urban, Pop, and contemporary R&B genres, says music producing looks easy from the outside but it’s quite a complicated skill set that’s acquired through time. 

“All the South African artist here are super talented. I hope the music we will create will be related to the audience here more over the market in America,” Kyle said.