The Friday after Tay Keith died, new music arrived on schedule, and we covered those releases less than a day after news of his death broke. Three months later, the Nashville medical examiner’s office has closed the case. The office ruled that Brytavious Lakeith Chambers died accidentally from toxicity involving mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and ketamine. The official circumstances are listed as the toxic effects of drugs.

Chambers, known professionally as Tay Keith, was 29. He died on June 18 at a Nashville apartment. The findings became public on Friday, Sept. 18, exactly three months after his death. The determination also noted mild coronary artery disease, nicotine and ethanol.

The medical examiner’s office did not release a cause of death in June. That delay is standard in cases involving toxicology. Autopsy findings can be available quickly, while laboratory panels often take weeks before investigators can certify a final cause. The three-month gap between June 18 and Sept. 18 was procedural, not unusual. It explains why questions about Tay Keith’s death remained open through the summer.

Mitragynine is the primary alkaloid found in kratom leaves. 7-hydroxymitragynine is a more potent related compound used in concentrated kratom products, and it has been the subject of federal action. On July 6, 18 days after Tay Keith died, the Drug Enforcement Administration published notice of its intent to place 7-hydroxymitragynine temporarily into Schedule I. The proposed threshold is five hundredths of 1% by dry weight, or 1 milligram by weight. Kratom products can vary significantly in potency and formulation.

In 2018, Tay Keith produced “Look Alive” for BlocBoy JB. Drake appeared on the feature, and the track’s hard, clipped drums carried a distinctly Memphis approach into the center of American pop radio. The song also introduced the producer tag that opens it, one of the rare signatures that a general audience can recognize within a single bar.

A recognizable producer tag has real business value. It gives artists a reason to book a specific producer’s sound, not just a generic beat, and it can strengthen negotiations around fees, credits and royalties. Tay Keith had that advantage within a year of his first national hit.

That same year brought "Sicko Mode," the Travis Scott record on which Tay Keith holds a production credit. The Recording Academy nominated the song for Best Rap Song at the 2019 Grammy Awards. A second nomination in the category followed in 2024 for “Rich Flex,” the Drake and 21 Savage single from Her Loss. Tay Keith did not win either award.

“Nonstop” and “First Person Shooter” placed him on two additional Drake albums, turning their relationship into the most productive artist-producer partnership of his career. His client list also expanded beyond rap’s usual lanes, reaching artists such as Beyoncé and Cardi B, alongside Lil Baby, Eminem and Sexyy Red.

The business behind a major producer’s catalog

The financial value of that access is usually divided across several revenue streams. A producer at Tay Keith's level may negotiate points on a master recording, commonly around 3% to 4%, as well as an advance and a share of songwriting when the producer contributes to the composition. Those points can turn a successful single into continuing income rather than a one-time check.

That model helps explain why established producers pursue full albums and repeat collaborations instead of chasing only individual singles. It is also why the one-producer album remains an attractive strategy, as we examined in our look at the one-producer album. Tay Keith never released a project built entirely around his production. Instead, he became the producer whose credits appeared across a season of major releases, helping define the sound of each one.

His Memphis lineage had been influencing rap for years before “Look Alive.” Three 6 Mafia’s tempo, the city’s mixtape culture and its preference for heavy, forceful drums were already part of the genre’s bloodstream, even if Memphis producers were not consistently dominating the national charts. Tay Keith helped reverse that flow. After 2018, Memphis-inspired drum patterns moved outward, and producers in other cities began building toward that sound rather than treating it as a regional reference.

He built that career while enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, roughly 40 minutes from the Nashville apartment where he died. Beverly Keel, dean of the university’s College of Media and Entertainment, described the timing to ABC News: “He already had a career that people were envious of before he graduated, and after he graduated, he just soared.”

Artists remember Tay Keith

Drake, whose catalog includes more of Tay Keith's production than any other artist’s, wrote after his death about “endless and eternal gratitude for your spirit and your contributions to this thing that we all love so much.” He added that Tay Keith would be deeply missed. Travis Scott offered a shorter tribute: “We gone miss ya broozayy.”

What happens to unreleased music and royalties

In music, the time carries an additional complication because unreleased sessions often remain locked away until someone with the authority to clear them makes a decision. For a producer who worked at Tay Keith's volume, that could mean a substantial amount of unheard material.

Master points and songwriting income do not disappear when a producer dies. They continue to accrue and are directed to the estate, which makes catalog administration nearly as important as the creative work. A producer with credits across four major labels leaves behind an accounting challenge as well as a body of music. The people managing that estate may spend years collecting statements, verifying splits and tracking payments that were never designed to be viewed in one place.

The later stage of Tay Keith's career also deserves attention. By 2023, he was still appearing on projects by artists from a younger generation, including Sexyy Red. That is significant in a genre where producers can quickly be pushed out of the conversation after their breakthrough period. Arriving is one skill. Staying relevant through the next album cycle is another.

The case file explains how Tay Keith died. His catalog shows what he built, and that part of his legacy was established long before the report became public.