Behind the Scenes: Canadian Producers and Songwriters Making Hits for Others

1. Boi-1da (Toronto) — Drake's co-architect, Rihanna's "Work," Eminem's "Not Afraid" — the decade's most decorated beatmaker (see our feature).
2. Noah "40" Shebib (Toronto) — the sound of OVO, co-writer across Drake's catalog — the producer as co-author (see our feature).
3. Frank Dukes (Toronto) — the producer whose samples and co-writes power dozens of global hits — the ghost's ghost (see our features).
4. Stephan Moccio (Niagara Falls) — "Wrecking Ball" and "Earned It" co-writer, the Junos' musical director — the classical-trained pop architect (see our feature).
5. Greg Wells (Peterborough) — Adele, Katy Perry, John Legend's vocal producer — the pop world's secret weapon (see our feature).
6. WondaGurl (Brampton) — the teenage producer whose beats reached Jay-Z — the prodigy pipeline's proof (see our features).
7. Murda Beatz (Fort Erie) — the trap export whose productions dominate the SoundCloud generation's mainstream wing (see our features).
8. The songwriting camps (Toronto, Montreal, LA) — the system (see our camps feature) that plants (see our features) Canadian writers (see our features) in (see our features) the rooms (see our features) where (see our features) the world's pop (see our features) gets written (see our features).

The pattern

The Canadian behind-the-scenes advantage (see our features): the craft (see our craft features) — the training (see our teachers feature), the taste (see our features), the work ethic (see our day-jobs feature) — travels (see our export feature) better (see our features) anonymously (see our features) than (see our features) onstage (see our features). The names (see our features) you know (see our features) sing (see our features); the names (see our features) you don't (see our features) built (see our features) the songs (see our features). The glass (see our features) is (see our features) Canadian (see our features). The hits (see our features) know (see our features).