Sad news reaches us from Nashville, where it’s been announced that the producer Tay Keith has been found dead in his apartment in the city. He was aged just 29.
Police have said that no foul play is suspected in the death. Keith, whose real name was Brytavious Chambers, was found by officers who were performing a welfare check. His death is unclassified pending autopsy results.
The Memphis-born Keith produced two of the biggest records of 2018 – Travis Scott’s Sicko Mode, a Billboard number one that year, and Nonstop by Drake, which reached number two. He received a Grammy nomination for Sicko Mode, and another in 2024 for his production work on Drake and 21 Savage’s Rich Flex.
Other significant hits he worked on include Beyoncé's Before I Let Go, Lil Nas X's Holiday, Eminem's Not Alike and DJ Khaled's I Did It.
He also worked with British rappers AJ Tracey and Aitch, producing their 2020 collab Rain, which reached Number Two on the UK chart. Paying tribute to him on Instagram, Tracey called him: "A legend of the game… I don't think it's an overstatement to say he had a big impact on my career."
Fellow Memphis producer Hitkidd has also paid tribute, writing on Instagram: "I ain’t even got the words, we been doing this since 2010 @taykeith"
