[Thaddeus Dixon](https://www.instagram.com/thaddeusdixon/?hl=en) wants to be known as one of the greatest producers to ever do it. The Detroit native has worked with all the greats, but he can hardly be boxed into one lane. Describing himself as an overall “music person,” he’s also a creative, musician, songwriter, and music director who’s worked and toured with the likes of Bryson Tiller, Brent Faiyaz, and Meghan Trainor.
Similar to the legendary Ryan Leslie, Pharrell and Kanye West, Thaddeus has been releasing music under his own name. Following the success of singles “Body On Me” with Marley Waters and “End Of The Night” with Ye Ali, he’s excited more than ever to unleash his new single titled “Addiction.” Staying locked in his A-List studio in downtown Los Angeles, Thaddeus turns the lab into a vibe each and every time. With Hennessy and marijuana on deck, there’s no telling what heat he may end up cooking by the end of the night (or morning).
Flaunt caught up with Thaddeus at his studio to discuss how he got his start in music, relationship with Brent Faiyaz and Meghan Trainor, current goals, being an artist, and more!
**You say you have your music side, what’s the other side of Thaddeus?**
The other side is I’m a good, chill guy. All my life I’ve been in music since I was a baby so if I wasn’t doing music, I don’t know what I’d be doing. Music consumes my life. I like to do regular shit like go bowling, but I’m pretty much in this motherfucker all day, every day. That’s what I do all year, I don’t take no vacation. My vacation is going on tour. Instead of me paying to go to Hawaii, I’ll go to Hawaii with Bryson Tiller for a show. There’s another side to me outside of music who’s a regular cool dude.
**Being from Detroit, what was the household like growing up?**
I grew up with my mom and my dad, very supportive of what I was doing. They found what I was good at, my passion. I was raised in church, that’s why I got the cross tattoo. My great grandmother raised me and took me to church where I developed my love for music. I grew up an only child. My parents really supported the music, took me to recitals. That and basketball. My dad’s like “you gon’ be 5’6” so your chance of going to the NBA is very slim.” I was good as fuck at basketball though, super good. I went to the same high school as Aaliyah, it’s an arts school. I was so good that I played for the neighbor high school’s basketball team. After high school, I stopped growing so music had to be the focus.
**What are all the instruments you play?**
I play drums, piano, bass, a bunch of percussion shit. You know the big drums, the Timpani drums, or the xylophone? I play all that.
**At what point did you realize music could be a career?**
I always knew that’s my passion so I kept on going, from this level to that level to that level. High school/college is when I started doing adult shows and travelling. Playing for big artists when I was super super young, I thought “oh yeah, this the shit.” I had to get out of Detroit to make it even bigger.
**What did working on Meghan Trainor's "Better When I'm Dancin'" do for your career?**
We have a lot of stories. \[chuckles\] I’m super appreciative of her because I produced this song in the _Peanuts_ movie. Charlie Brown, it was on Fox. A huge record, went Platinum. Meghan approached me about producing it, that’s my homie. Her label Epic Records didn’t want me to produce it at all. They wanted to get the big name producer like Pharrell’s “Happy” in _Despicable Me_ or will.i.am. Meghan said “if Thaddeus isn’t producing it, I’m not doing it.” She really stuck up for me, that’s my n\*gga. 2015, we’re doing all the Billboard Awards, the American Music Awards, Ellen, Jimmy Fallon. That was amazing, I enjoyed that. I was on the pop side.
**Were you into pop like that?**
I pride myself into being able to fuck with all genres and do it at a high level. Do it authentically. I fuck with pop, I enjoy Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift. That’s 2015, it’s a little different how pop is now.
**Songwriters are always artists to begin with. When did you shift your focus to your own artistry?**
The fucked up thing is people say “oh you’re an artist now. Are you singing or rapping?” It’s hard to accept being called an artist. I have to accept the word. For 90% of my career, I’ve been supporting artists as a producer, songwriter, or in their band. With ‘artist’, I think of people like Meghan Trainor, Bryson Tiller, Khalid. I’m not trying to be the front person, singing and dancing. I’m more like Pharrell, Ryan Leslie, Kanye, a producer who makes music. I’m embracing being called an artist. An artist, you don’t have to be a singer. You could be a n\*gga who paints or draws. I’m accepting that title. Am I a singer or rapper? I can’t claim that.
**You sing on your records though.**
I’m a producer and writer. Yes, my voice is on it. When you think Pharrell, you think of producer. He does rap or sing on there. Ryan Leslie, you might think of differently. Kanye, artist. They’re my biggest inspirations. I like their unique style of making music. When a Pharrell beat comes on, you say “that’s a Pharrell beat.” When a Kanye song comes on, “that’s a Kanye song” — without even hearing their voice. They developed and created a unique sound, that’s why I respect them as a producer. There’s a lot of producers out here.
**I have a soft spot for producers.**
We do this. Not taking any credit away from any artist because it’s hard to go into that booth: singing, rapping, doing it 10, 20, 30 times to get it perfect. Some people can go in there and do it quick. \[snaps fingers\] I’ve been in there like “damn, this shit harder than a motherfucker.”
**“Body On Me” is such a vibe. What were you and Marley on when you created that?**
“Body On Me” is going up too, which is crazy. I did “Body On Me” for Rihanna. The chances of actually making it on her album, I’m not in control of that. So I put it out. It’s better than me sitting and waiting for 2 years, the sound gets dated. It’s old, doesn’t sound good anymore. I know Marley as a writer and a producer, that’s my dawg. He has a different, island vibe. I thought “let me put him on.” Some producer love releasing music. He did his thing, it sounds good.
**The songwriting realm is really competitive right?**
Man, it’s crazy. Any business is politics, who you’re in cahoots with. What’s fucked up about producers and songwriters, you could be in the studio all day, all night long creating a song, but there’s no guarantee it’s coming out on that artist. The artist gets dropped, they change their sound. They change their management, their A&R. They’re pushing back the album, all that shit.
**How do you cope with that?**
That’s part of the reason why I’m releasing music, I’m in control of my own shit. I know my shit’s good. I’m still producing and writing for other people, but this gives me the pleasure of releasing stuff I know is dope. I don’t need an A&R or manager to tell me, “oh this is fire” or “this is dope.” “We need to change this.” Nah, this is my creation.
**Talk about connecting with Ye Ali on “End of the Night.”**
I didn’t even know Ye Ali like that. I work with Brent Faiyaz, my homies are close producers who are part of that circle so they’d been talking about him. I’d researched him a little, thought he’d bring a dope vibe to the song. I DM’d him like “yo bro,” and it happened. That doesn’t work for everybody. We never even met in person. I travel a lot, I’m on tour 6 to 8 months out of the year.
**What’d you do with Brent Faiyaz on tour?**
I was the music director, I put his show together. I arranged the songs.
**How’s it feel to have the record you produced, “Trust,” go Gold?**
It feels good because that’s his first Gold record as an artist. He got a Platinum record with GoldLink, but that’s GoldLink’s song. That’s his first certification, it feels good to be a part of that. It’s my third one. It’s hard to go Gold and Platinum these days. Not everybody’s doing it. For him to be independent too, he isn’t signed to a label. It’s a dope song. That shit went HAM out of nowhere a couple months ago because of TikTok. TikTok blew it up, they count that as a stream. That song came out in 2018.
**How did you initially link with Brent Faiyaz?**
His manager Ty used to manage me as a producer a couple years ago. He hit me up like “yo I got this new artist, I want to bring you on the music direction.” They came here, we met. The majority of the artists I work with are signed, already have a foundation. Brent’s the first biggest independent artist I’ve worked with. I look back like “damn, this n\*gga independent and he’s doing this.” We got off tour and a couple days later, I hit him like “let’s get in the lab.” He’s like “bet.” We recorded it right here in this room \[A-list Studios in DTLA\]. We started the record here and he finished it somewhere else.
**His shows are so intimate. How was it seeing fans go crazy?**
I was on drums then. Even though he’s poppin’ now, at one point nobody knew who he was. It’s dope to see somebody grind and work hard, put all their strength into something and actually have it manifest and happen. On stage, you have fans singing the words. That shit’s hard. It doesn’t happen for everybody. I’m happy for any artist I’m working with because I know what it takes. They work hard, they didn’t give up. Some people give up. Some people go crazy and give in, do all kinds of wild shit. On tour, I’m the n \*gga he’s putting his music in the hands of to make sure it’s presentable to all these thousands of people. It feels good.
**Do you see what he does on stage and aspire to do that as well?**
No, you won’t ever see me perform. Ever! I don’t have a desire to be singing. I want to be a producer and songwriter. Every now and then, I’ll come out with something with my voice. Timbaland came out with songs as a producer, but you don’t consider him a singer or rapper. Even though he’s rapping on it, he wasn’t doing shows or performing. I want to produce and write, make great music. Maybe my performance would be to deejay, how Mustard goes out and deejays his songs. That’ll be my thing.
**What inspired your new single “Addiction”?**
When you think of addiction, you think of bad things like drugs and alcohol. Things I like to do everyday, whether it’s smoking weed or eating good food. I love to eat good ass food: steak, lobster, crab legs. I like to dress nice. I’m addicted to living good, living a good life. The song’s about being in love, having great sex, winning with my team. My team, we get money. It’s a real sexy and intimate song that fellas will fuck with and the ladies will feel. You could listen to it in so many settings and feel good.
**Out of all the people you worked with, what are you the most proud of?**
Producing a Platinum-selling record is a big thing, that’s not easy. A million plus people purchased or streamed something that I made with my hands. Late night, all types of shit. I’m a musician so I take pride in making my beats from scratch. It’s hard to take this loop, this loop, and put it together. I like telling the artists what to sing, how to sing, what to say. From the front to end, that’s what a real producer is.
I like working with Bryson Tiller. 2016 when _Trapsoul_ came out, crazy. I was his music director and drummer. I loved it. Bryson was the biggest artist in 2016, bigger than Drake. We’re everywhere, with all the celebrities. It was so fun. That time period was one of the best times of my life.
**What are some goals for yourself?**
I want to make really good music. Music that lasts, music that wins Grammys. When you hear a record from the 90’s or 2000’s, you’re like “ah, that’s my shit!” No matter how old it gets, it’s still your shit because you feel a certain type of way. I want to be a part of the biggest songs in the world. I’ve been doing this shit since I was a baby. My next level is evolving into putting out music. My face is out there a little bit. In the grand scheme of things, I want to make the best music. The goal is the best song, period. No matter who it’s with.
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