
Phonk is one of those curious genres that could have stayed relatively obscure if not for its virality on TikTok and across the internet. But whether or not you’re active on social media, you’ve probably come across this genre somewhere.
Phonk music has surged in popularity over the past few years. Its gritty, nostalgic sounds are blended with dirty beats in a way that feels retro but fresh. In this guide, we’ll explore what phonk music is, break down its key characteristics, and walk you through how to produce your own phonk track that could sound like this:
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Follow along with this tutorial using Komplete, a comprehensive music production suite that offers an expansive collection of professional-grade virtual instruments, effects, and sounds.
What is phonk music?
Phonk music is a subgenre of hip hop that’s rooted in the sounds of 90s Memphis rap and trap. A typical phonk track will include distorted 808 basslines, chopped vocal samples, and eerie melodies. It’s heavily influenced by the raw energy of early Southern rap, but producers have evolved the sound into something more atmospheric, lo-fi, and modern.
The name “phonk” itself is a stylized take on “funk,” pointing back to the genre’s use of classic funk and soul samples, especially in early iterations. While older phonk leaned into those funk samples, today’s phonk often leans into a more minimal DIY sound.
Modern phonk, especially the variant known as drift phonk, also tends to feature pitched 808 cowbells, overdriven bass, and a tempo typically sitting around 90 to 120 BPM. It’s this combination of old-school sampling with modern trap and lo-fi elements that gives phonk its aesthetic.
You can hear all of this below in the viral hit “Close Eyes” by DVRST:
And in “Sahara” by Hensonn.
How is phonk music made?
Phonk music is made by combining distorted 808s, lo-fi textures, and hard-hitting drums. One of the most important things to keep in mind when making phonk music is to focus on mood and vibe over polished production. In fact, as you’ll see below, you can use plugins and samples to ‘downgrade’ the sound quality you have to make your track feel like authentically gritty phonk music.
Let’s make a sound that feels raw and hypnotic, using a mix of traditional sampling techniques and modern beat making tools.
1. Set your tempo
Let’s start by setting our tempo to 117 BPM. That will keep things groovy, without becoming too high-energy.
2. Start with the right samples
At the heart of any great phonk track is a strong sample. Producers often dig through old rap acapellas, jazz or soul records, and particularly 90s Memphis rap tapes to find the perfect loop or vocal snippet. If you’re going this route, you’ll want something that sets a dark tone.
Alternatively, you can focus on a good sample for your melody line. A classic choice for modern phonk music is the cowbell from an 808 kit. You can find an 808 cowbell in the Battery Factory library.
On its own, the cowbell sounds like this:
We’ll need to be able to pitch the cowbell around, so throw your sample into your favorite sampler like Kontakt or your standard DAW sampler.
We want our melody to be dark, so we’ll base it on the Phrygian mode, which is one of the darker minor scales.
Our melody sounds like this:

That’s a great starting point.
3. Build a gritty drum pattern
Phonk drums need punch and grit. Start with a heavy kick and a snappy, distorted snare. We’ve found these samples in the Bazzazian expansion for Battery. You can layer an extra snare on every second hit to get more weight out of them.
Here is our basic groove:

We’ll also add some hi-hats with varying velocity levels to give the beat a rolling feeling:

Finally, we’ll add Raum straight onto the track to give it some air and space.
5. Add a dark bass line
No phonk track is complete without a heavy, distorted bass line. Most producers use 808 basses, but they push them hard – clipping, distorting, and saturating them until they become a driving force in the track.
For this beat, we’ve loaded up the Deep Float factory preset in Massive X. The simple bass line features only three notes and focuses on a droning sound:
This already sounds solid, but to get that hard-hitting sound, we’ll add some clipping distortion with Trash, and then use a utility plugin to make sure our sub frequencies stay in mono. We’ll also sidechain the bass to the kick drum so that it ducks out of the way whenever the kick drum hits.

Now this is what we’re looking for:
5. Keep interest with a counter melody
Phonk music tends to feature sparse but effective melodic elements. Think eerie synth leads or ambient pads. The goal is to add tension and mood without cluttering the mix.
In this track, we’ll use the Cassy Ohs preset from Lo-fi Glow to add some melodic interest apart from the main cowbell.
A touch of Raum reverb and Replika XT delay can go a long way here.
6. Downsample and color
Characteristically, phonk music is almost always “lo-fi”. While our initial sound selection has lent itself to that aesthetic, we can do more to downgrade the sound even further. To make that lo-fi vibe feel cohesive, we’ll do this in two groups.
First, group the 808 cowbell, bass, and counter melody tracks together. Then add Vinyl onto the group with the following settings.

Let’s listen to the effect that Vinyl had on this group:
The bitcrusher on Vinyl adds gritty high-frequency harmonics to the group while “downgrading” the sound.
Now, let’s group the drums and our Vinyl group together and add another instance of Trash to this group. We’re going to go with the Clip Control distortion setting. That will make our track sound like it’s being ‘overloaded’ without actually pushing any levels up.
This leaves our beat sounding like authentic phonk music.
7. Arrange your beat
Phonk tracks usually follow a straightforward structure — intro, main loop, occasional breakdowns, and an outro.
Keep it interesting by dropping elements in and out every eight or sixteen bars. You can also automate parameters of your synths, drums and effects, and throw in effects like white noise swishes.
Your arrangement will vary depending on what parts of the track you want to highlight. Here is a basic arrangement of our phonk track, but feel free to change things up however you see fit:

8. Master your track
Mastering is what takes your track from sounding rough to feeling complete. It helps glue everything together and ensures your music sounds balanced on any playback system. Open up Ozone and let the AI-powered mastering assistant analyze your mix. From there, you can fine-tune the EQ, compression, and limiting to suit your track.

Here’s the final version of our track after using the assistant and making a few final tweaks.
Produce your own phonk music
Phonk music is a genre that thrives on mood and grit. Don’t worry about pristine sound design or complex arrangements – focus on capturing the vibe. With its roots in Memphis rap and a modern twist that brings in lo-fi textures and distorted bass, phonk is one of the most exciting genres to explore as an electronic producer.
Use the tools in Komplete to experiment with different sounds, and don’t be afraid to push the limits of distortion and texture.