Black Women Music Producers You Need to Know — The Complete Guide (2026)

By Ms Mavy · Afroplug · International Women’s Day 2026

Who Are the Black Women Music Producers Behind the Sound You Love?

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They produced the records. They arranged the sessions. They directed the sound in the studio — and for too long, they didn’t get the credit.

This International Women’s Day, Afroplug is dedicating the entire month to Black women music producers. From the legends who changed the industry to the new generation rewriting the rules — this is their story.

The State of Women in Music Production

Only 2.6% of music producers are women. Less than 5% of Grammy nominations in production categories go to women.

Yet the most iconic records of the last 30 years have Black women’s fingerprints all over them.

The problem was never talent. It was visibility. And that is exactly what we are changing.

Black Women Music Producers You Need to Know

Missy Elliott — The Blueprint

Born July 1, 1971 · Portsmouth, Virginia

Missy Elliott co-wrote for Aaliyah and Jodeci before she ever stepped to the mic. At 25 she launched Gold Mind Records under Elektra — full creative control. She built the rhythm, the arrangement, the sonic direction of Get Ur Freak On alongside Timbaland. She records alone. No one in the room. Just her and her vision.

5 Grammy Awards. First female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Alicia Keys — The Architect

Born January 25, 1981 · New York City

Alicia Keys left Columbia University after 4 weeks to produce in the studio full time. She produced or co-produced 11 of the 15 tracks on The Diary of Alicia Keys. She built The Oven Studios in New York — designed by the same architect as Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios. She created her own plugin with Native Instruments — sampled from her personal grand piano.

15 Grammys. Over 40 million albums sold.

Solange — The Visionary

Born June 24, 1986 · Houston, Texas

Solange launched Saint Records in 2013. Co-directed every video. Sculpted every layer of A Seat at the Table — the silences, the pacing, the textures. She and Beyoncé became the first sisters in history to both have US number-one albums in the same calendar year.

Number 1 Billboard 200. Grammy for Best R&B Performance — Cranes in the Sky.

WondaGurl — The Prodigy

Born December 28, 1996 · Scarborough, Toronto

WondaGurl started making beats at 9. Discovered FL Studio at 11. At 15 she won the Toronto Battle of the Beatmakers against 30 established producers. At 16 — production credit on Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail. Credits: Rihanna, Drake, Kanye West, Travis Scott, Pop Smoke.

Juno Award for Producer of the Year 2021 — first woman ever to win as a producer for other artists.

PinkPantheress — The Game Changer

Born 2001 · Kent, England

PinkPantheress started producing on GarageBand at 17 in a college dorm room. She built her entire sound alone — UK garage, drum and bass, bedroom pop, Y2K textures. Over a billion streams. This week she won Producer of the Year at the 2026 Brit Awards.

The first woman ever in 49 years of the award existing. At 24 years old.

Tems — The Voice and The Vision

Born June 11, 1999 · Lagos, Nigeria

Tems recorded Try Me in her bedroom during COVID lockdowns — no label, no budget, just the song. It went viral overnight across Nigeria and the diaspora. Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance. First African woman to headline Glastonbury. Executive produced her debut album Born in the Wild entirely herself.

The first African woman to win a Grammy in her category.

NOVA WAV — The Duo Rewriting the Rules

Chi Coney & Blu June Andrews

NOVA WAV met online. They formed their duo in 2011. On Beyoncé’s Renaissance in 2022 — they co-wrote and co-produced 8 of the 16 tracks including Cuff It. Credits: Rihanna, Jay-Z, Ariana Grande, Kehlani, H.E.R., Jazmine Sullivan, DJ Khaled.

Grammy for Best R&B Song — Cuff It.

Tinashe — The Independent Force

Born February 6, 1993 · Lexington, Kentucky

After her girl group disbanded in 2011, Tinashe went home and taught herself to produce using YouTube. DAW: Logic Pro. Two acclaimed self-produced mixtapes in 2012. Executive produced Aquarius in 2014. Left her label and never stopped. Songs for You. 333. BB/Ang3l. Quantum Baby — featuring the viral hit Nasty.

Fully independent. Still producing. Still owning every decision.

Chloe Bailey — The Producer Behind the Artist

Born July 1, 1998 · Atlanta, Georgia

Most people know Chloe Bailey as a singer. But she has been producing since she was a teenager. Sole producer on Baby Girl and Tipsy. Co-produced the majority of Ungodly Hour. Piano. Guitar. Sampler. She is not recording someone else’s vision — she is building her own.

Have Mercy — platinum. In Pieces. Trouble in Paradise. All her sound. All her production.

Laila! — The Future

Born 2006 · Brooklyn, New York

Laila! Mos Def Daughter started producing on GarageBand at 14. In 2023, she released Like That — written and produced entirely by herself. Debut album Gap Year! in 2024 — 17 tracks, all written and produced by Laila! At 18. On GarageBand. By herself.

Tyler, The Creator became a fan. Solange became a fan. The industry took notice.

Uncle Waffles — The Phenomenon

Born March 30, 2000 · Eswatini

Uncle Waffles learned to DJ during COVID lockdowns — eight hours a day. October 2021 she filled in last minute at Zone 6 in Soweto. The video went viral. Drake shared it to 100 million followers. Two years later — Coachella. Beyoncé sampled Tanzania on the Renaissance World Tour.

Billboard: Princess of Amapiano. First Amapiano artist ever at Coachella.

DBN Gogo — The Pioneer

Born May 28, 1993 · Durban, South Africa

DBN Gogo launched Zikode Records with Universal Music Group in 2022. First South African to join Spotify’s Global Equal programme. Headlined Coachella 2022. First female Amapiano DJ at Tomorrowland 2024. She was building when Amapiano was still local — and she helped make it global.

TRAKGIRL — The Builder

Southern Virginia / New York

TRAKGIRL started making beats at 14 on a red Gateway computer and an Akai MPD16. DAW: Logic Pro. Official Producer Pack on Apple GarageBand. Credits: Jhené Aiko, A$AP Rocky, Luke James. Founded The 7% Series — named after the stat that women represent only 7% of music producers. Created PAY US TODAY advocating for fair pay for creatives.

Not just a producer. A builder.

Kitty Ca$h — The Tastemaker

Born January 8, 1989 · Flatbush, Brooklyn

Kitty Ca$hD{J}^{\mathrm{\prime }}dforRihanna,A$hDJ′dforRihanna,AAP Rocky, Solange, and Marina Abramovic. Played the Guggenheim, the Whitney, MoMA PS1. Her Love the Free mixtape series championed SZA, Willow Smith, Kelela, and Sampha before any of them had major label deals. Joined LVRN — home of Summer Walker and 6LACK — as a producer.

Why Representation in Music Production Matters

As a Black female music producer myself — I built Afroplug because the tools, the samples, the courses weren’t made for us. Over 200,000 creators worldwide use Afroplug today. And more and more of them are women.

Black women music producers are still one of the most underrepresented voices in the music production industry. The talent has always been there. What’s changing today is access — and visibility.

If you are a woman reading this and you want to start producing — WondaGurl had FL Studio. PinkPantheress had GarageBand. Tinashe had Logic Pro and YouTube. Laila! had her bedroom. You already have everything you need to start.

The Contest — Afroplug x WeTalkSound x WeAreProducHERs

In honor of International Women’s Day — Afroplug has partnered with WeTalkSound, Nigeria’s biggest music community, and WeAreProducHERs, a female producer collective based in Nigeria, to launch a micro-grant for the next wave of female African producers.

3 winners. Real tools. Real visibility.

🎁 FL Studio Producer Edition license + Afroplug Samples & Plugins Bundle ($500 value) + FL Studio courses + access to the Creative Shutdown event — April 3 in Lagos 🇳🇬 + visibility across our platforms

Applications open: March 7 → March 14 Winners announced: March 20

👉 Apply here

Share this with every woman producer you know. 🖤

Say Their Names

Ms Mavy (Afroplug Founder) · Missy Elliott · Alicia Keys · Solange · WondaGurl · PinkPantheress · NOVA WAV · Tinashe · Chloe Bailey · Uncle Waffles · Laila! · Tems · UNIIQUE · DBN Gogo · Doechii · Trakgirl · Kitty Ca$h — and every Black woman music producer we haven’t named yet.

This one is for you. Keep going. 🖤

— Ms Mavy, Founder of Afroplug