You know, as I'm progressing with my sound, I just realize when you got a simple sound with crazy percussion in the beats, it makes it. It kinda shapes my sound when it comes to what makes a Tay Keith beat.
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.
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 I first started, all I had was the laptop and some cheap headphones. I ain't have no speakers. You know, no Rocket speakers or no MPC. No keyboard, none of that. It just was the laptop and the headphones. Going from there, it just teaches you a lot.
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 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.
Man, Dr. Dre just inspired me so much. Just him personally, outside of music, too. You know, him doing the whole Beats thing... People like him, they set the bar high for me to set the bar even higher, you know? It's more than just music when it comes to building a foundation and building your empire.
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 actually got to work with TM88. He was one of my big influences as far as producing. It was pretty cool. I had met him in California at the crib and it was one of those random meet-ups and we got to working from that point on.
You know, as I'm progressing with my sound, I just realize when you got a simple sound with crazy percussion in the beats, it makes it. It kinda shapes my sound when it comes to what makes a Tay Keith beat.
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.