Tay Keith

“I'm working with a lot of artists.”

“I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, born and raised. It was hard. I stayed with my momma, then I ended up moving with my daddy.”

“I want to prove that you can go to school and still chase your dream, too.”

“I'ma be on a lot of projects and hopefully I get to work more on my own project, too.”

“I don't want to be labeled as just a producer. Producers have little control and they get little respect. And I'm a man of respect.”

“As far as Memphis being underrated, I feel like a lot of people have slept on Memphis music when it comes to breaking through into the mainstream.”

“I was DJing for this party promotion called 1st Flight Entertainment, having to DJ on the weekends and then also going to school in the same week. So I just figured out how to balance that, then make beats on the side too.”

“When you got a personal relationship with somebody, it's easier to work with someone.”

“I talk to Drake all the time.”

“Everything I do got that bounce to it, that addictive, repetitive sound.”

“We need more Memphis culture in the industry.”

“People like my beats because of the crazy flow with the hi-hats and the bass.”

“I feel like it took artists like Pimp C and Andre 3000 with 'International Players Anthem' - I feel like it took the Memphis sound to a certain peak but it never really broke into the mainstream.”

“When I DJ, I got my own catalog to play in the club. I'm spinning my own records like it's my own show.”

“There's a lot of entrepreneurs out here who are in school, who just don't know what's next, or can't figure out what direction they should go in. And me graduating motivates them.”

“I plan to retire at 50. When I'm done, I ain't touching no more keyboards.”

“You gotta grind, you gotta make your way. Everybody's got their grind mentality in Memphis.”

“You gotta trust a person to work with 'em.”

“Music was my way out. School was the plan B, just in case music didn't work out. I didn't know it was gonna work out. I just felt like, 'If I'm doing these two things, something's going to get me up there. Something's going to make me successful.'”

“I was like 13, 14 years old. I had a Rock Band mic, and I used to record music and put it on YouTube and DatPiff. Then I started getting to producing my own music because I didn't want to keep rapping on beats I was getting on SoundClick.”