Tay Keith, Memphis Producer Who Helped Shape ‘Sicko Mode,’ Dead at 29

Brytavious “Tay Keith” Chambers, the Grammy-nominated producer who helped bring Memphis rap’s stark, trunk-rattling sound to the top of the charts, was found dead in his Nashville apartment on Thursday. He was 29. The Metro Nashville Police Department said no foul play is suspected, and the death remains unclassified pending autopsy results.

Born in 1996 in Tennessee, Keith began making beats at 14, absorbing the DNA of Memphis pioneers like Three 6 Mafia and 8Ball & MJG. He broke through locally alongside rapper BlocBoy JB, a partnership that caught Drake’s ear and led to the 2018 single “Look Alive,” Keith’s first major hit at 21. That same year, he co-produced Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode”—a shape-shifting Billboard No. 1 that earned a Grammy nod for Best Rap Song—and contributed to Eminem’s Kamikaze album.

In the years that followed, Keith kept one foot