Exclusive Interview
Oct 21, 2020
Produced by: Rudy Manager & Liam Phelan
Edited by: Eethan Bello & Lubos Groch
Tay Keith - “Rappers respected me enough to want to work with me and my city.”
We are very excited to interview Tay Keith, one of the hottest producers in hip-hop. He is a 24-year-old multi-platinum, Grammy Award-nominated music producer from Memphis, Tennessee. Tay Keith has worked with artists like Drake, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, BlocBoy JB, Meek Mill, Future, Eminem, and many more. His productions have contributed to songs such as “Sicko Mode”, “Look Alive”, and “Nonstop”.
In the interview, Tay Keith talks about his creative process, collaborating with the top hip-hop artists, effects of COVID on music production as well as about providing advice to upcoming music producers.
How do you feel about this COVID virus that has affected everyone?
It’s kind of weird, the adjustments with it, because I forget that I got to have my mask on. I walk in the store and it’s like; “Yo, what are you doing man, you got to have on a mask!” I have to make adjustments with that as time goes and then also adjust to the smaller things, just like having to go somewhere and they might be out of supplies or inventory because they can’t get their supplies in and it’s kind of weird, man.
It’s crazy because it affects every aspect of life. It’s not just the careers, it's also shopping, going out, meeting people and stuff. This must have had a crazy impact on the music. What does it feel like? I presume you still make music on a daily basis but I guess it’s just the interaction side of it that is kind of changing.
Yeah, certain artists are kind of hesitant to go to the studio now. And you can’t really just work with people hands-on, like you usually do. I was in a writer’s camp for Warner Chappell this past week and I've been doing it for the past two years. There were multiple different camps, and me thinking, not even realizing that it was still like the whole COVID situation going on with Warner also. We had the sessions, but everything was a Zoom call and digital. I’m so used to walking in the room and working with an artist on a session and now it was just everything on a computer. Like; “Yeah bro, you got to log in here, and type this in,” and all that. I’m thinking the whole week leading up to it like I’m going to go there and have fun, I’m going to kick it with my people and shit. But it was just like, damn, the whole thing was a Zoom call, the whole week and shit. I really didn’t just enjoy it as much as I did but of course it’s safety first. I understood everything about it.
You’ve done a lot in a very short amount of time. Given that you started making beats really early on in your career and kind of put your foot in the door, did you prefer producing and selling beats or getting in the studio with the local artists?
Yeah, it was more of me just selling beats, just trying to figure that shit out and making ends meet because that was a priority. It was always like; “Ok, you know, I love doing this” and then I look at the future and wonder, “Am I going to make it?” But I still have to pay my rent next month or I gotta pay my car insurance next week, you feel me? So I always had that thought in my head when I came to making beats, like I know how to make money off this shit - let me hustle, let me grind, let me take these opportunities to try to come up. Me doing that, I was able to develop with upcoming artists and shit while I was getting my beats placed with certain artists. It was just about certain opportunities that I took advantage of.
You were born in Memphis, and what I think is interesting, especially now in this digital age, is that you as a producer can sell beats to people across the world. I think some people might forget about working with artists in their communities. How did you feel about working in the Memphis environment, meeting with these local artists and working with them?
With me it was more of just building my name up personally for them to respect me enough to want to work with me. Any producer tries to send beats to any artist, any chance they get. Rappers and artists, they don’t look at this shit and be like; “Ah, I’m going to fuck with his beats”, you know what I’m saying. But when it came to me, they looked at me like; “Ah, he working, he doing this, he doing that”. I want to fuck with him type of shit because I can win from it too. It felt like one of them situations where rappers respected me enough to want to work with me and my city. There were a lot of producers coming up around my time and I just kept good relationships with every producer and artist so I guess I built that name for myself. That reputation, that “He do good business, he got help promoting your shit, he's gonna meet up, he's gonna go to the studio with you” and I just kept that good relationship with every artist I was working with and it just worked building with them, you know.
I think one of the most important things about being a producer is that you got to build and develop these connections with people. And at the time you were doing this you were still studying. You were at college so you had this life of education as well. What was it like to match the music part with your daily life and study at the college? Did you ever see any challenges in there?
Yeah, I’d say challenges, but I also had help with a lot of my work. It was always situations where if I couldn’t figure it out, I could get somebody to help me. On top of that I really enjoyed college, I had fun. I was DJ-ing on events, I was really on campus. There was nothing deterring me from going to class. I enjoyed learning, I enjoyed working with my colleagues, my classmates, and shit. It was a fun journey for me. When the success started happening, we was like well shit, you’re this close now. Are you going to drop out and say fuck it or are you just going to keep going? So shit, I just kept going.
You weren't just comfortable with the music, but you really had your career absolutely going ham. You had hits, Grammy-nominations coming in... Do you think it was crazy seeing how fast it was happening once it did?
Yeah, for sure, everything happened fast. It’s like some shit – it just comes at you so unexpected. It don’t even hit you until years later. It was like that type of situation where it’s like, damn, I’m getting settled in the game now. I’m starting other shit, other business ventures and people still respect me for even finishing school. In these other fields that I’m doing, it just made me realize how big of an accomplishment it was.
How was it for you in 2018 to come up with this one track “Look Alive” and yet to keep on going throughout the year with that consistent sound?
I would say the thing is that every producer that comes out has those hot streaks. Everybody had one. Murda [Beatz] had his, Metro [Boomin] had his, Jetson [Made] had his. Pi'erre [Bourne] had his. It’s like, for you to even reach their level as a producer it’s already like a moment. But for you to keep going, you kind of set the tone for you being a super producer. And I feel like when I had my moment, it was a time for me to build my relationship and keep going and working with people. To this day, I build my relationship a lot better with a lot of people based on some shit that I have done in the past and on the business, the good business that I’ve done. But I feel that personally, I’ve been just working on relationships with people while I had that moment.
Do you think that your workflow, the way you work and the way you look at producing has changed over time?
Yeah, most definitely, that shit definitely changed because even just the process of how shit flow. Me being a producer it’s like, you’ll be in the studio with an artist a lot of times and sometimes just the fact that I can make a beat in my living room, send it to an artist and that shit end up worldwide is just mind-blowing. You know, a lot of people wouldn’t understand it because they’ve never done that or accomplished that, but when you’re in that situation and you’re able to create some shit like that so effortlessly, you look at shit a little bit different.
You worked with a range of very different rappers and MC’s, from Eminem to Future and so on... Do you think it had changed your approach to collaboration, depending on how they are going to record and how they prefer to record?
Yeah, for sure. When you look at the different artists you’re working with it’s like damn, I got to kind of adjust to their sound a little bit but keep my own sound because that’s the reason why they came to me. But still you make it acceptable enough when the people, the fans are going to agree to it and not think that it’s some industry plant bullshit. So it’s kind of like every artist that I work with, I kind of gravitate towards their sound, but keep my sound also.
You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Is there anyone still on your radar right now in the hip-hop game who you really want to be with in the studio?
Hell yeah bro, plenty of people. I mean I did say it a lot of times, you know, different shit, but I haven’t just worked with them. But it’s like I want to work with Post Malone, Jay-Z, you know what I’m saying. Who else I haven’t worked with? It’s so many artists and I just don’t want to leave nobody out. Yeah, but that was just the name of the two who I really want to work with. Who I anticipate working with and I’m going to manifest it, you feel me. I’m going to manifest it.
Let’s talk about the importance of building a brand and the tag as a producer. The producer tag is a big part of the game and yours was appearing everywhere in 2018. How does a tag help build the identity?
I feel producers can build their identity in a lot of ways. Personally, I looked at it like my hair. How I used to always wear my hair, the ponytail at the top, it was like a look that I had. The chubby dude with the ponytail on top of his head, that was my look.
Sound wise, of course, I’m stuck with my original sound that had become trending. Those were the kind of things that had me stand out the most among the producers around the time when I was coming up.
I remember watching the Dreamville documentary last year where they had lots of artists and producers in the studios and I saw that your name has popped up there as well. How did you feel about that environment with so many artists and producers being in the room at the same time linking up?
That was some crazy shit. That was a whole different experience. So I met, let alone the artists, but even the producers that was there. That was the first time I’ve ever met Jetson [Made], at the Dreamville camp, and when I was talking to him and shit, I had already known bro was going to get big for real. Just me having a conversation with him where his mindset was at, I’m like, damn, this n***a thinking like me. That’s what type of shit he was on. This n***a put up game, this n***a smart. Like I know Jetson [Made] for sure is going to be big. And this was I think in January 2019 and bro ended up getting hot, a couple months after that. So that was one thing and then just me, the whole Dreamville team and other rappers that was there too, all that shit was dope. It was just a lot of shit going on. And also me meeting T-minus because T-minus is a legend, you know. So I’m looking at the bro’s beats, his career and the shit he’s got going on and just keep being able to see him work and how complicated he had the shit going. This made me open my mind to how much work people were actually putting to a song or a recording because he was on FL Studio and he had like 100 different pages in FL Studio. I’m like damn, T-minus, this n***a cold, for real.
This question is more about the upcoming producers as it is becoming harder to get to the studio now. What would you say to them?
I’d say for upcoming producers the thing that y’all should focus on now is like building with artists that you can get in reach with. I’ll just give you a perfect example; if you’re a producer and you're in Memphis, Tennessee, and you got all these artists in Memphis, Tennessee, that’s blowing up right now, that’s coming up. Like Choppa Gang like the artists N-Less Entertainment get. If you see them artists coming up and you know like your cousin might be kin to bro’s sister or some shit, they can make the link for you to link up with them. Link up with them, work, record with that artist and exchange numbers with that artist. Instagram and Twitter, all that shit cool, but when you got the number, you’ll send beats right over to them. You better text the beats right over to them so whether or not they want to link back up with you in the studio, you’re able to send them beats. And then when they’re going to eventually be in the studio again they’ll be like; “Damn, I need some beats,” and you might just happen to be sending him some beats the same night. And he might be like; “Fuck it, I’m going to pull this beat out and rap on it,” and now you got a placement and who knows what that placement can get you with that artist for you. You’re building with that artist and that’s the most logical way to get on right now during this pandemic too. For one, you’re sending beats to A&Rs and shit, so you got to go through them, and 9/10 times the big artist don’t have the time mentally to even go through new producer’s beats. And they fuck with the same producers that they have always fucked with or producers on a bigger level. So that being said, I feel that, as an upcoming producer you’ve got to get to arms reach of an artist that has good music and that you feel has the potential to make it. They have a decent buzz in your city whether you are in New York, LA, Miami, Kansas City, Chicago. They are doing decent numbers. If they got a thousand views on a YouTube video and they got a 100 likes on that, you know they got following. They got followers, they got people fucking with them, so build with them, work with them. Work hands-on with them, they might need an engineer, record them, learn how to record. All this shit matters.
Is there anything you want to add about the journey you’ve been on...
What I’m going to add is that I feel like I got way more to accomplish on my journey in my career and hopefully next year from now. From this day of us doing this interview I will be at a different level and if I’m at the same level, I mustn’t have worked hard enough. I’m going to leave it with that.
Follow Tay Keith on: Instagram: @taykeith | Twitter: @taykeith
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