Loyal. Faithful. Humble. Dedicated. Selfless. These are just some of the words people use to describe one of the hottest young producers in the game, DJ FMCT.

Hailing from Bridgeport, Connecticut, DJ FMCT, whose real name is Maliki DeCampos, is a special gem in a field where faithfulness and selflessness aren’t necessarily the first words that come to mind when talking about industry culture. It’s not everyday that we hear of music industry figures dedicating considerable time in their day to praying, no matter what they’re doing. It’s not everyday we hear of producers going the extra mile for months with labels to ensure that his collaborators receive the credit they weren’t given. It’s not everyday we see 22-year-old’s producing platinum records with one of the hottest artists out.

That’s what sets DeCampos apart.

“Music was always a big thing for me,” he recalled. “My dad was big into Latin music, like reggaeton. My mom was a big fan of old school Hip Hop, 70s, 80s, 90s music. As I grew up listening to [this] music, I became infatuated with how rhythm and sound is created. I went on to DJ, hence my name, and one night while I was DJ-ing at a school of mine, it came to me like an epiphany.”

“[A friend came to me] and said he wanted to start rapping. I figured, why don’t I start producing? What if these are my songs? I took that and ran with it. I went face forward with no hesitation. First thing I looked up was ‘what program to use to make beats?’” This was 2018.

At that time, DeCampos, still in high school, wasn’t in the position to buy expensive production software for himself. Soon, however, a friend found a cracked version of FL Studio, introducing him to the program he still uses to this day.

“He couldn’t explain it to me well, but I hit the YouTube videos,” DeCampos said.

For there on, he immersed himself in learning how to produce, channeling industry staples like MurderBeats and Metro Boomin’ as inspiration. And since the cracked FL Studio days, DeCampos has gone from being a bedroom beatmaker to a decorated producer, working with rap notables such as Casanova (his first major artist) and now Lil Durk, who he’s enjoyed a steady collaboration with.

It’s actually with Lil Durk that DeCampos’s career has blossomed on a new level.

The story starts on Instagram. He was in high school.

Of course, you can’t reach out to a star like Lil Durk just like that. Cleverly, DeCampos did a bit of research and scouted who was closest to Durk. His friends, his close colleagues, his inner circle. With a collection of beats ready to go, DeCampos DM’d his beats to Durk’s inner group,  people who were a little more approachable and likely to respond, but nonetheless, with large followings of their own. He sent these beats, relentlessly, for about a year.

It worked.

He finally received a response from one of Lil Durk’s good friends, who revealed that everyone in Durk’s circle was rapping over his beats. “I wanted him [Lil Durk] to hear my name so much that he had to meet me,” DeCampos revealed. Best of all, Lil Durk himself had not only heard the beats, but fell in love with them.

Then, DeCampos received some paperwork–it was from Durk’s team. This was two weeks before the record (yes, Lil Durk’s record using DeCampos’s beats) dropped before the summer of 2020. And all of this was confirmed with a life-changing call.

That call, the famous call, ended with DeCampos being signed on the spot by Lil Durk himself, being guaranteed to produce on Durk’s upcoming album at that time, and a flight out to Los Angeles.

“It had been so much working up to this, so when I got on the phone with Durk, I said to myself, ‘it just went up another level. I knew I wanted to be his main producer, so I came in like ‘I want the people around him to be cool with me before I even go to Durk’ and it worked out,” he remembered.

The single comes out, COVID-19 has just hit, and where’s DJ FMCT? At home, just like everyone else. “For a whole 6-8 months, I had a record out and I couldn’t go outside.” That also meant not being able to meet Lil Durk yet, despite having a single out with him.

While DeCampos did get to meet Durk, finally, at a concert with Lil Baby on tour, their relationship didn’t truly begin to crystalize until his work on Durk’s album, 7220.

“I got to the airport in Atlanta, dropped off my bags, got to the studio and we [Durk and I] finally were able to chop it up. It was a little awkward at first, he was the first person to speak.”

“So, what’s your real name,” DeCampos remembers Durk saying upon meeting him, followed by “what does FMCT stand for?” It fittingly stands for ‘Famous Miracles Come True.’

In working with him on 7220, DeCampos truly got to shine as a producer. A particular emphasis on the word ‘producer,’ as he appreciated that Durk was open to him wanting to be a producer and not just keeping him in the box of a beatmaker. “There’s a stigma on beatmakers compared to producers, he was really open to me growing into that title,” recalling the access he was given by Durk and his team to develop into that role.

The album took 2 months to produce. Three of the album’s songs, “Smoking & Thinking,” “Blocklist,” and “Shootout @ My Crib,” were all recorded on the same night. “We’re two for three tonight,” says Lil Durk at the top of “Smoking & Thinking.”

With all of this happening in such a short period of time, and at such a young age, you would think a person like DJ FMCT would get caught up with the fame and “fit the mold” of the industry he worked so hard to crack into. But actually, for him, it’s the other way around. He’s his own mold.

“He’s much more sensitive than the field he’s in, than he would allow people to believe. His persona is much more reserved, forgiving, nurturing, even in a work setting. There’s a certain bitterness in the industry and he tries to stay the same [in his morals],” said one of DeCampos’s closest confidants and supporters since literally day one, his mom Viviana.

“I always call him an old soul, he projects a lot of young energy, but he’s an old soul,” she added.

She reflected on her role in his journey and how, in many ways, it has been a journey of growth and changed perspective for herself as well.

“He has opened my eyes to this new world. I’m old school; I come from a background of ‘get your education, get your degree.’ Something like this was so far-fetched for me, but Maliki made me a believer and changed my perspective on how parents support their kids in their endeavors. If you want it bad enough, if you have faith, integrity, endurance, it can happen. We parents play a major role in achieving that,” she said.

“It’s been a whirlwind. It’s scary, but you have to jump on faith and stand on faith [DeCampos largely credits his faithfulness to his mother’s determination]. He’s the first to go ‘against the grain’ in the family, so that made it even more scary. But, it became a family project!”

She’s not the only one who’s seen the rise of DJ FMCT.

“When I met him, he started with a little tablet, DJing on it, making trash beats with two headphones (one blue, one red). He DJ’d our concerts at school before we even graduated,” said Savion, a childhood best friend.

“Everybody has this perception that he started with Lil Durk, but he was working with Casanova in his freshman/sophomore year in high school. He got a laptop for Christmas one year and was taking trips to New York, working with local artists,” he added.

Interestingly enough, both Savion and DeCampos’s mother used the word “sensitive” to describe him, with Savion acknowledging with a chuckle, “but, that’s probably not a cool thing to put in there!” On the subject of “not cool” things about DJ FMCT and in true best friend fashion, Savion revealed that the decorated producer “makes beats, but he doesn’t really have rhythm. He can’t dance!”

And with a memory attached, he continued, “Once, he bust out the ‘Cha-Cha Slide’ at a baby shower…he’ll bust a move if he got to, but it ain’t too much!”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a fair claim if DJ FMCT himself weren’t able to respond. “I used to be good, but I became a studio junkie!” DeCampos said, laughing but confirming his alleged stiffness.

Nonetheless, as someone in DeCampos’s inner circle, Savion stressed that he is “beyond proud of him.” DeCampos’s mother, echoing that pride, said “Every mother think their child is worthy of greatness, but I think he’s more than that! I am proud to be his mother and am grateful that he hasn’t gotten lost in all of this like so many kids do. His accomplishments don’t matter as much as who he is as a human being. That is what I admire most about him.”

Savion made it a point to acknowledge that his friend isn’t phased by the shiny things, especially when it comes to his family and friends. “He doesn’t change. I see him no differently, I was his friend when he had a tablet. The plaques are just a picture on the wall, it’s more than fame or money.”

That final phrase seems to define exactly who DJ FMCT really is. It’s more than fame or money.

“I was gonna come to this point, one way or another. I was gonna be an electrician, that was my route once. I went to trade school, everything. It was easy and I told myself, “I can make a living off this. If the music doesn’t work out, I’ll do this. Also, my mom was like ‘you need a backup plan,’ so that was it,” DeCampos said. Being an electrician was the day job, being a producer was the side hustle, yet his true passion. Then, his life began to change forever. And he’s still only 22 years old.

“God had it in my plans. As long as I maintain my relationship with the Lord and put him first in everything there will be nothing I can’t tackle. My mom was big on religion and always instructed us to keep God first. This humbleness didn’t come overnight, God humbled me a lot of times. There were times when I wouldn’t read my word or go to church and things would go wrong [in my life],” he said.

“I’m around temptation all day, I don’t drink or smoke and even being around people who do, I can do me and remain the person I am. My main goal in being a producer is to prove that you can remain yourself, if you’re a firm believer in God and trust yourself. At the end of the day, you don’t have to compromise your morals to get to this point. I got platinum tracks and I didn’t have to compromise myself. All of us don’t take the same route.”

In his route ahead, he hopes to snag a Grammy, or even simply be nominated for one, but “obviously, maintaining my morals and myself in the process.”