Behind many of Dro Kenji, Toosii and other rappers’ pieces of work sits the loops and production ability of DxnnyFxntom, a producer at Internet Money Records who is blowing up from his recent work. The success didn’t come fast for Dxnny, but putting beats together has seen him explode in popularity and begin his climb to the top of the pyramid.
He spent most of his time growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, both music hubs that have produced a generous amount of talent spanning from trap to the intriguing bars of Mac Miller.
In many cases nowadays, the production and instrumental behind some of the biggest songs in the world have become the main focus of the piece. In a short statement, producers are huge pillars in compiling the necessary tools in creating a chart-topper, toying around with the behind-the-scenes mechanics overlapped in a track.
Signed to Internet Money Records, Nick Mira, Taz Taylor and many of the other members of the cast join Dxnny in crafting beats for some of the largest names in rap. But before he joined Internet Money and worked with the best in the business, his high school band spawned an immense interest in producing.
“I was in a rock band with a couple of my friends and we wanted to make a couple of original songs, so I first got FL Studio because I just wanted to make music, like for my band,” Dxnny said. “I started streaming on Twitch, making beats and stuff, and then it just like, it led to me meeting some friends who introduced me to all the underground rap artists and stuff.”
Twitch, Discord and social media outlets have allowed him to spread his projects, looping instruments and creating his production from scratch. Dxnny keeps an eye out for what he likes the most during the creative process. When working on a loop, the time it takes Dxnny to put it together hinges on the instrument being utilized and messing around with the whole loop.
“It depends what type of loop I’m doing, if it’s a guitar one, I have spent way more time on that, so I can do those, like a quality one, in like 15 minutes,” Dxnny said. “Or if I want to do some experimental stuff, I’ll just end up like sitting there like playing over, like soloing over it for like 10 minutes.”
The solo experimental journey towards a finalized loop is a major component of the instrumental, later laid alongside bass, snares and other features of a finished beat. Posting on YouTube and SoundCloud while streaming on Twitch and Discord, Dxnny developed a following leading up to the eventual signing with Internet Money. Musicians would reach out towards his content before he even signed to his label, sticking out to him as some of the first talents that commented on his work.
“Destroy Lonely, he found me straight, he DM’d me on Instagram from my Tik Tok scene,” Dxnny said. “Even if you’re just like doing something, if you have talent, you should put it on, post it out like, you know, it’s just sitting there.”
His first major single would come out in 2020, collaborating with Toosii on his single “Met In LA,” the point where Dxnny was turning his production fantasy into a reality. He would interact with Toosii’s producers, specifically Midlow, asking to send loops for him to use, the eventual set-up for the collaboration. At home in Pittsburgh flipping through live streams, he would watch Toosii recording over his loop, a moment that he wouldn’t forget.
“It was when I was still at University of Georgia, and I had to come home from it because I had COVID, I was in my parent’s basement and they were leaving food on the stairs and stuff,” Dxnny said. “I remember that’s where I was when Toosii went live, he was recording the song on live, like that was one of the first big things I got super excited for.”
Gaining experience and also receiving messages from Smokepurpp and Killy before signing, Jonathan Hicks, who recruited Dxnny to Internet Money saw his potential and started working back in 2020. Having multiple opportunities to sign, he still waited until the time was right and joined the crew in 2022, assisting a lot of the budding artists the label had to offer.
“Me and John had kept in touch over like that two-year period that it took to get up to sign me li, and there were periods in that time where like, they weren’t looking for any new guitarists or anything, so I just had to wait till the time was right, and then we had a deal done,” Dxnny said. “They were looking for people to work with Dro Kenji more, and just like some of the Internet Money artists.”
Members of the Internet Money roster are among the kingpins of the hip-hop industry, molding unique beats and working with each other to build the label’s rappers. For Dxnny, joining the crew meant he already knew his way around software and had all the key skills to make him well-known.
“If you’re in Internet Money, you already know the ropes, but for the most part, it’s just about watching how other people work; being inspired by how hard working they are and how good they are,” Dxnny said. “At the same time, even though they’re your label mates and stuff, you’re all adding to or sending for the same artists and stuff, so sometimes you have to compete with each other and like, it’s like a friendly competition to get better.”
Not only has it developed Dxnny as a producer to be a part of Internet Money, but he has also experienced the inner workings of the process of collaborating to make a beat while staying private at some points.
“Obviously, every person’s musical process is different, and most of the time, I work by myself, but, I love working with other people there and wanting to do the things that make up a beat, there’s the loop, or the melody and the drums,” Dxnny said.
“It’s cool to have people who you really look up to acknowledge your work and feel good enough to have you on their team.”
– DxnnyFxntom on Internet Money’s support
Lil Tecca, Skaiwater, midwxst and others have all started to work with Dxnny and the work he has in the vault. Recently, he was listed on Skrillex’s newest project Don’t Get Too Close, listing the story of how he received writing credits for “3am” featuring Anthony Green and Prentiss.
What started as an Instagram post by Prentiss using Dxnny’s loop generated Skrillex’s interest, eventually flipping the beat and instrumental to remix the pair’s creation. Despite its style being separate from the original version, Dxnny is more than happy to be listed on the electronic artist’s project.
“That’s another reason why it’s so important to post your stuff, people will find it,” Dxnny said. “People were saying on my Instagram comments like ‘you’re a legend for this’ and I was like is it really that insane, and then it finally hit me like ‘this is actually insane.”
As he continues to focus solely on his music and plans future trips to the Internet Money Records Studio in Los Angeles, Dxnny believes he still has not unlocked his full ability with countless potential in the tank.
“I feel like I’m still sometimes not even where I want to be yet,” Dxnny said. Right now what I mostly do is send loops, and I’ve worked more with smaller artists, but I want to be working more one-on-one with the artist like maybe make the beat with them and spend a lot more time on it, I’m really more of that mindset.”
“I want to help the artist see their vision come to life.”
– DxnnyFxntom
