About Dillon Francis
Dillon Hart Francis , also known by his alter ego DJ Hanzel, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. By deejaying and collaborating, Francis helped to popularize the new moombahton genre, and in 2012 he adapted it further into moombahcore and EDM trap, giving the music a harder sound, as heard on his EP Something, Something, Awesome. He expanded into EDM genres with Money Sucks, Friends Rule , which hit number 2 on the Billboard dance chart, then shifted gears into Latin music with 2018's Wut Wut, a Spanish-language album honored with a Latin Grammy and a Latin American Music Award. The song "Sexo", with Residente featuring iLe, rose to number 43 on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart in June 2018.
Francis was born in Los Angeles, California, to an American father and a Serbian-Croatian mother. Francis has stated that his father, Robert Drew Francis, is an "alternative medicines doctor". He has made a recurring Internet joke about being unable to find his father. Francis has stated that he had a sheltered upbringing, claiming that he did not know any swear words until he was 15. He also claims that he could not watch TV unless he watched at least two hours of Sesame Street a day.
Francis first rose to fame after gaining the attention of American producer Diplo and eventually collaborating on the song "Que Que", with featured Latin-pop artist Maluca. His song "Masta Blasta", originally a 130 BPM house track, was edited after inspiration from Dutch musician Munchi and eventually ended up as the moombahton track. In 2010, Francis released his Swashbuckler EP on Play Me Records. In 2012, he also released two singles "I.D.G.A.F.O.S." and "Bootleg Fireworks ". He has released works on multiple labels including Dim Mak Records, Mad Decent and Owsla.
In February 2012, Francis became the first moombahton artist to achieve the number-one spot atop the Beatport releases chart with the release of his extended play Something, Something, Awesome. In late 2012, he embarked on his Wet & Reckless tour across North America, as well as supporting the English electronic-music trio Nero on their Welcome Reality tour and English musician Flux Pavilion on his Standing on a Hill tour.
In 2013, he announced a headlining Wurld Turr across the US and Canada, as well as confirmed that his debut album would be released in 2013, but later experienced various delays. He was announced as one of MTV Clubland's Artists to watch in 2013, alongside acts such as Kill the Noise and Otto Knows. Francis was labeled by MTV as an "artist to watch" as of September 9, 2013. Francis performed at music festivals including Camp Bisco, Electric Daisy Carnival, Coachella, TomorrowWorld, Ultra and Electric Zoo. Francis also created the comedy production duo Meowski666 alongside Kill the Noise. In October 2013, he was announced as number 73 in the DJ Mag Top 100 poll.
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