Hip-hop DJ Kay Slay has died four months after being hospitalised with coronavirus aged 55.
During his stellar career, the record producer worked with multi-award-winning artists such as Busta Rhymes, T-Pain, French Montana, and Ray J.
Music promoter Van Silk confirmed that the late DJ – real name Keith Grayson – died on April 17.
In a statement to Van Silk remembered his ‘dear brother’ and wrote: ‘Hip Hop lost a real gem.
‘I’ve known him since he was 16 years old. He was my little brother. I introduced him to many and we did a lot of things together. We last talked December because we were finishing up the 200 rolling deep project. He was gonna do his video part with MC Sha-Rock.
‘From the mixtapes to helping him launch Straight Stuntin’ magazine and the whole What The Science project, the world not only lost a real dedicated person to the culture of Hip Hop but a source of bridging the gap in Hip Hop. I’m gonna miss my little brother.’
Grayson was best known for his albums The Soul Controller, The Streetsweeper, and Accolades.
Before music, Grayson was formerly a graffiti artist and featured in the 1983 hip-hop documentary Style Wars.
In his last post (January 4) Grayson promoted his music video alongside his track In My Soul, which features the artists Tre Williams, Papoose, and AZ.
Tributes have been pouring in for the late star, with music journalist Dart Adams writing: ‘Rest in eternal peace to DEZ AKA DJ Kay Slay AKA The Drama King. This is a sad day for Hip Hop culture & Rap fans the world over.’
American rapper Lupe Fiasco added: ‘RIP DJ KAY SLAY.’
DJ First Class wrote: ‘F*** RIP DJ KAY SLAY! 55 Years Old Man SMH.’
Record producer Dante Ross tweeted: ‘If you ran across Dez in a train tunnel in 80-81 you were in for a problem.
‘He carried that same raw energy into the DJaying game. He was as Harlem as you could get. He had cats shook back in the graf days. When I finally met him we laughed about that ish. RIP KING KAY SLAY.’
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