“It wasn’t cheap… but it was worth every penny,” Baraka says of working with Grammy-winning producer JAE5

Joshua Baraka has dropped a bombshell about the price tag behind his hit single Wrong Places — and it’s got jaws dropping across the industry!

In a candid sit-down with YouTuber Ruth Kalibbala, the rising star revealed that the mastermind behind the track, British-Ghanaian superproducer JAE5, typically charges a whopping £25,000 (around Shs121 million) per beat.

“I was lucky to get a discount,” Baraka admitted, “but it was still not cheap. It was a big milestone in my career.”

The collab with JAE5 — real name Jonathan Kweku Awote-Mensah — marked a major leap for Baraka, who is now gearing up for a new album that fans are already buzzing about.

So who exactly is this high-flying producer that’s burning holes in artists’ pockets?

JAE5, born in London in 1992, spent part of his childhood in Ghana before returning to the UK, where he polished his craft at APE Media and under his older brother’s DJ wing. The Grammy-winning hitmaker is now signed to Black Butter Records and has become the go-to beat god for top-tier names like Burna Boy, Dave, J Hus, and NSG — the latter of which includes his younger brothers Kruddz and OGD.

He first rose to fame through his work on J Hus’s 2015 mixtape The 15th Day, then leveled up as executive producer for the critically acclaimed Common Sense album in 2017, which gave us the chart-banger Did You See.

Since then, it’s been hit after hit: Burna Boy’s Sekkle Down, Dave’s Location, and NSG’s Options, just to name a few.

In 2021, JAE5 stepped into the spotlight himself with Dimension, featuring Skepta and Rema, and fans haven’t stopped vibing since.

Now with Joshua Baraka joining the list of artists lucky enough to snag a JAE5 beat, Uganda’s music scene just got a major global cosign — and we can’t wait to hear what’s next!