The Fiesta rhythm is without doubt the beat for the summer.

The multi-song project, which was released a few months ago, is a joint production between DJ Mac and Curt “Crash Dummy” White.

Among the hit songs featured on the Fiesta beat are 100 Watt by Kraff, Old Skool, New Skool by Ding Dong, and the chart-topping Haad (Fiesta) by Armani. Other songs featured include Work Out by Elephant Man, Nuh Regular by Malie Donn, and Spin (Neva Problem) by Skeng.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer earlier this week White, who is of Jamaican parentage, attributed the success of Fiesta and other projects that he has been involved in to timing.

“I attribute the success to timing and circumstances. Working with like-minded individuals such as DJ Mac has been crucial to the success. He is in tune with the dancehall scene and a trusted source for great music, which complements my production work. It’s often misunderstood the work he does, but DJ Mac plays a large part every step of the way, making changes to arrangements, sounds, etc, which makes all the difference in the success of the projects,” said White.

He continued: “Music production is like running a business. It’s about understanding supply and demand, trends, and your target audience. For instance, knowing the popularity of 90s and 2000s dancehall, DJ Mac and I aimed to revive that nostalgic feeling with our project
Fiesta 2k24, which resonated well with listeners, but that was a business decision that we made and attempted to explore. In anything you do, you need to first vision it and execute, leaving it up to luck just doesn’t work out very well — for me, at least.”

White was born in Miami, Florida, but moved to Jamaica at an early age, where he attended Hillel Preparatory and then Meadowbrook High. He returned to the United States for college and now he resides in Canada.

He got into music production during his teenage years.

“When I was 13 or 14 I visited my cousins in Miami for the summer and he had
Pro Tools, a Triton keyboard, and an Apple Mac tower. I had no formal music training or understood music theory, but I started experimenting with sampled loops to pass time and fell in love with the process of creating something from nothing. I am self-taught as far as music production is concerned. While I’ve always wanted to pursue formal education in music production, I believe music is largely about feeling. My best friend at the time, Ramone Derizzio — may his soul rest in peace — was classically trained, and we often worked together as a duo. After his passing I made the commitment to understand music theory as I embarked on the journey alone, but did not complete schooling,” White shared.

White disclosed how he initially began to collaborate with DJ Mac.

“DJ Mac and I connected through Instagram in mid-to-late 2023. Being in the same industry we naturally kept an eye out for projects that are making waves in dancehall. We saw potential benefits in collaborating as he was creating waves with his brand and I had recently released the Frsh Drop rhythm, which featured acts such as Aidonia, Govana, Kraff, and Ding Dong. Music is about innovation, and Mac and I are good at identifying sounds that can impact the current generation, working together has really proven there is a chemistry,” White said.

He told the Observer that down the years music has been like therapy.

“I’ve been involved in music production for nearly 20 years. Music has become therapeutic for me, oftentimes I forget about all my real-world problems while I’m creating, but after 20 years of doing it I try to be intentional with my time and get the most out of each project. This often involves thinking and listening to different sounds and more important identifying trends,” said White.

He recalled his experience with his début project 13 years ago.

“My first official release was a rhythm called Stadium Buk. There wasn’t a ton of success on the overall project, but the highlight was it helped to kick-start Masicka’s career with his song Guh Haad And Done, which was used for Team Jamaica during the Olympics when Usain Bolt was dominating track and field,” White explained.

He has worked with several acts, among them Jesse Royal, Daniel Bam Marley, Jo Mersa Marley, Masicka, Rvssian, and Govana.

“These were all early childhood friends that we would often collaborate with attempting to find our way into the music industry,” said White.

Some of his most recent collabs include tracks with Jquan, Valiant, Nigy Boy, Chronic Law, Tommy Lee Sparta, Intence, among others.

And, as for new music, White has several in-production.

“We have several projects in the pipeline. Aidonia’s Prettiest is trending on social media as part of the Occupied Mind album, to which I contributed 12 tracks. I’ve also contributed three tracks to Govana’s Legacy album, including one of the lead singles Four Story. The
Chakka rhythm (which features Jquan’s hit song of the same name) has amassed over 150,000,000 views via TikTok. We also recently released Jquan Choppa’s Salvation and a few other undisclosed projects coming up for 2024,” said White.

Crash Dummy.