Once a DIY bedroom producer, Syd Tha Kyd is now one of the most influential musicians of her generation.

Sydney Bennett—also known as Syd Tha Kyd—is cool, calm, confident, contemplative, and qualified. Her work as an engineer, producer, singer, songwriter, and co-creator of groovy soul band the Internet (alongside Matt Martians, Patrick Paige II, Christopher Smith, and Steve Lacy) has made her a prominent voice of her generation. Her success is a testament to a strong familial support system and her dedication to personal growth as an artist. She has gone from bedroom producer to global icon and created a timeless sound and community—all the while staying in control of her life and her music. At 26, she is fully grounded but not without trepidation.

Bennett’s creative identity and outlook make her appear fearless, but it has actually taken comfort and confidence to get to her level of artistry. “I’m not fearless,” she clarifies. “I struggle with a lot of different fears, mostly career-related and health-related, but what keeps me going is hope. Hope and passion. I’m very passionate about music. So, as scared as I may get that maybe nobody cares about this song, or maybe this album won’t do as well as the last one, I know [the Internet] still made a fire album, and we still have to put it out, so we can make another one.” Bennett’s remarks are not to brag or boast but to state fact. The Internet has released some excellent records, even landing the band a Grammy nomination in 2016 for Ego Death. “That hope and that passion, I guess, overshadows all the fears and the doubt. I think that’s the difference between those of us who continue to pursue music and those of us who stop playing.”

With all of this success, it’s inevitable that people would begin to approach her with their hands out, asking for favors, advice, or opinions on their latest releases. Fans intensify, demands intensify. Combine that with our current political climate, and it can be difficult just functioning day-to-day. Artists like Bennett shine as an example and bright light to many during this time. So, as her admirers look to her for inspiration and hope, I wonder where she turns for support when she needs it.

“My team grows and changes a little bit every year. Most of the people I work with now, I’ve been working with for a long time,” she explains. “I keep a lot of old friends around me, and that kind of helps. Every so often, I make a new friend who understands me. Whether it be a DJ, or another artist, it’s nice to include them in my support system, because they can relate to what I’m going through, and I can go to them for advice, or ideas on something. And family, too. So my support system is my family, a few old friends, a few new friends, and then it’ll cycle in and out.”

All the members of the Internet actually live at home with their families, and it seems none of them are in a rush to move out. Bennett says that living at home “plays a big role in keeping me grounded and sane.” There is a common mind-set in the United States that between the ages of 18 and 21, you’re supposed to move out of your parents’ home into your own place. Her Jamaican father doesn’t ascribe to that custom. “He tells me that in Jamaica, when the daughter gets married, they build onto the house. Like ‘okay, y’all can move in over here,’ and that is how his house is back home. Like all the extended family, low-key, lives in one compound, you know? My dad really likes having us live at home. He encourages us to buy property, because he used to do some real estate business, but he is very happy to have us at that house. So is my mom.” Her brother also still lives at home, and, she says they all have enough room to thrive. “It’s not like we’re living on top of each other. We all have plenty of space to be alone. We have plenty of space to gather and spend time together. I even have space for a whole studio.”

For those who don’t know, Syd began engineering projects in her early teens and went on to record the vastly popular hip-hop collective Odd Future, of which she was a member. Since then, she has been busy establishing her own music career and collaborating with other artists. As a solo artist, she has released two EPs, her first album Fin, and completed her first solo tour. She has also appeared on songs with Bilal, Common, Tyler, the Creator, Kaytranada, and others. You can also catch Bennett in the Drake video “Nice for What,” alongside Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Tiffany Haddish, and other powerful women.

Although Bennett began as an engineer and producer, she continues to build on her talents as a singer and songwriter. With all of this on her plate, she assures me she never gets bored.

“Lately I have no excuse to be bored. For real,” she explains. “Aside from the album, I’ve been practicing guitar more. I’ve been making a bunch of beats for my next album. I’ve been still doing features here and there for the homies. Practicing piano when I’m not practicing guitar. Editing something I did a while ago, or sometimes I just spend a day in front of the mirror trying on clothes. I enjoy reading ’cause it gets me outside of my life and puts me in someone else’s life for a little while, and then sometimes I come across a line that looks cool and would be a cool song title or something. It’s great, because everything I’m doing is productive and fulfilling. Sometimes I feel like I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none, but at least I’m not bored.”

The Internet is a supergroup of sorts. Each member possesses many talents and skills, so many, in fact, that each member has released their own solo project over the past year. However, unlike other bands that suffer from tensions that can be created by solo careers, side projects only make the Internet’s members stronger.

As Bennett gears up for the group’s next album, she explains that there are no guest producers on this album, that it is 100 percent the Internet. This reflects the importance of camaraderie in the Black community, something Bennett values highly. “You know we have to stick together, because everything is just a stepping stone, and we’ve got to be stepping stones for each other,” Bennett explains, “for us, especially, having dropped solo projects and everybodyspeculating on what it meant. For our next album, a big theme behind it is people coming together. Like-minded individuals coming together to form like a hive mind and take our expertise in each specific area, and put it together. Like, ‘We’ve all dropped solo albums, so imagine what we can do together. Here it is.’ It’s a metaphor for what’s going ontoday. We’ve got a lot of powerful people on our side, and they’re all trying to push their own agenda, and I understand that. I’m just curious to see what it will look like when everyone really comes together for the greater good, and everybody takes a role, and we delegate who needs to use their expertise for what and stuff like that. Like it can happen. Anything can happen.”

The music industry, like most industries, was not designed with consideration to the mental and physical health of those involved. These matters are seen as something that artists must manage on their own to ensure some sort of success. In various interviews, Bennett has explained the ups and downs of growing up in the spotlight. She has discussed her bouts with depression and anxiety, but also her triumphs working through these experiences. The moments of vulnerability she so honestly shares are worth cherishing for fans. The ability to not only acknowledge her personal headspace but then to share it in a public fashion is a powerful statement. It gives us insight into the artist’s motives and feelings and shows us their humanity. It dispels common conceptions of musicians as heroes and shifts our relationships to them. They are also humans.

As a strong public figure in the DIY community, Bennett, perhaps unknowingly, created a space for young producers to thrive in. Her work producing at home opened up doors for them to showcase their skills with an understanding that it could lead to success. Where to start, though? Bennett explains she was confident in her skills compared to those of other engineers and was able to establish herself at an early age. I wondered how she determines her value as a producer moniteraly.

“I just wanted to be competitive. I knew a lot of studios were charging $25 an hour, or whatever, $20 an hour, ’cause, mind you, I was in high school. I’m like, well, I’m new; these dudes don’t know me, but I know I can give them a better mix when they leave. So I set very competitive rates, and then once I started getting more business, I raised the rates little by little, or I charged more to newer clients,” she breaks it down. Though she no longer engineers for anyone else. “It’s something that I really enjoy doing, and now I really enjoy doing it for myself. So I don’t have to engineer for anybody else. But yeah, who knows. Maybe one day I’ll get back in the mix.”

As far as tips, this is what she has to offer to those who are just starting out as sound engineers. “I would say you would have to be very competitive, because there are so many studios out there now. Train your ear. Mix a bunch of songs. Listen back to your mixes, give them depth, make sure they’re not too thin, make sure they’re not too thick. I always like to think about mixing from an artistic, or a creative, standpoint: like, ‘What can I do to this to make it really embody what the song is about. Do I give the guitar some more attitude? Do I make it more edgy? Do I make it cleaner? What kind of song is this? What do I see? Do I see tuxedos, or do I see bootcut jeans? Do I see boots?’ Ya know? And then I try to put that into my EQing and compression and stuff like that. And then arranging goes a long way,” she says.

And as far as her favorite plugins? “I really like the OneKnob Series. They sell it on the Waves website, but it’s a series of plugins, and it’s just one knob. It’s nice, because there’s not a lot of knobs you have to twist to get the right sound. ‘You want this to thump? You want the kick to be fatter? Imma throw this OneKnob on it real quick. It’ll do the job.’ I really the CLA Vocals series, as well, specifically CLA effects, because there is a telephone effect on there that’s really good. There are real easy to use, and that’s why I like them.”

Some think that to do-it-yourself, you must do every little bit yourself, but that’s not necessarily the case. You can have teams and support. In fact, it’s very important that you do, otherwise you will burn out before you release your first project or halfway through your first tour. Bennett is a prime example of that mindset. She and the Internet are signed to a major label with their own unique deal, but the musical decisions are all their own.

“I’m DIY, because I record myself, and you can’t stop me from creating an album. I don’t need your studio time; I don’t need your studio. That’s always been a thing for us. We have a budget, and we use it when we wanna have some fun with it, but can’t nobody stop us or keep us from making something, and that’s where our DIY comes in. We have our team outside the label and then our team at the label. And in the past, we’ve always kept the label at an arm’s length. Just out of fear, I guess, that they’d taint what we were doing, or add any type of level of insincerity to it, and I think we’re at a point now where we’ve established a foundation of authenticity within ourselves and to our followers. So, I think now, we’re in a good position. We’re really trying to work more with the label for this next album, because, you know, one, we have a new deal with them now that’s our deal and not through OF (Odd Future), which feels a little more empowering,” Bennett says about her DIY mentality and reality.

Even with her level of success, she still has her hands in many projects others would have assigned to someone else. “The first three Internet albums came out under Odd Future Records (a Sony label), but this one is our deal, our budget; this is what we have to give back. It’s a beautiful situation, and for them to have given us the same beautiful terms that we had through the Odd Future deal, they’ve given us a lot of reassurance that they really care about what we’re doing, and they really want to keep us on the team, and that’s nice. At the core, we are still very DIY. We find our own photographers. I edit the website myself. Matt draws all the drawings and makes the merch. I engineer everything and co-mix. And we make all the music, too. On this album, too. That’s another thing with this is that we didn’t have any outside producers. So it’s truly us and DIY. We did it ourselves.” It’s this kind of commitment and eye for detail that keeps Bennett and her bandmates in control of their projects.

Not only do I listen to Bennett, but so do my niece and nephews, my brothers, and my parents. I see one of my nephews—inspired by her music—truly pursuing his love for music. He researches and studies production and engineering. Similar to her at that age, he is slowly but surely setting up his bedroom studio, and there are more people in the world that are inspired to do the same. Her words and intent speak volumes. Bennett’s sincerity does not go unseen or unfelt.

By SassyBlack | Photos by Alan Lear