‘Cultural force’: Tay Keith’s family issues statement on his passing as hip-hop community mourns
attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
The hitmaker who helped create songs for Beyoncé, Drake, Travis Scott and a generation of Memphis rappers died Thursday at the age of 29.
The hip-hop community at-large is reflecting fondly on Tay Keith. The Memphis producer, who scored hits for Drake, Travis Scott, Beyoncé and a host of others, was found dead in a Nashville apartment on Thursday. He was 29.
According to Nashville police, no foul play is suspected in his passing.
The producer’s family issued a statement on Friday (June 19), remembering him as a “visionary” whose work “shaped the sound of a generation.”
“It is with profound sadness that we confirm the passing of BryTavious ‘Tay Keith’ Chambers,” the family wrote. “BryTavious was a visionary producer, songwriter, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and cultural force whose work helped define the sound of a generation. From Memphis to the global stage, he shaped countless hit records and left a lasting mark on music and culture.”
Credited with 11 top 10 hits and four No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, Keith also holds the distinction of having the most No. 1s on the Billboard Hip-Hop/R&B Chart this decade with six. The Memphis native, who worked out of Nashville, famously said that he would be a professor at age 50 and would retire from making music.
A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he was presented with a platinum plaque for “SICKO MODE,” the Travis Scott and Drake collaboration that went No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the same month he walked across the stage.
“BryTavious was a visionary producer, songwriter, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and cultural force whose work helped define the sound of a generation. From Memphis to the global stage, he shaped countless hit records and left a lasting mark on music and culture. He was deeply committed to creating opportunities for others through his company, Drumatized, supporting emerging songwriters, producers, and artists,” his family said.
The statement continued: “Above all, BryTavious was a beloved son, brother, uncle, family member, and friend. While the world knew him as Tay Keith, his family knew him as BryTavious — a source of love, strength, laughter, and guidance. We take comfort in knowing that his legacy will live on through the music he created, the opportunities he provided, and the lives he touched.”
No funeral arrangements have been made at this time. In a tribute shared with WSMV in Nashville, Beverly Keel, dean of Middle Tennessee State’s Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment, remarked that he had a career people were “already envious of.”
“He promised his mother he’d earn a college degree,” Keel said. “He was the first in his family to graduate from college … He was a really good man. Even if he hadn’t had all this international success, he was a really good person. We are all just shattered and devastated. Students came to MTSU because this is where Tay Keith studied. Now what we have to focus on is preserving his legacy and providing the foundation to the next generation of students so they can have a life and legacy like Tay Keith.”