Tay Keith Quotes

I'm a fan of Bjork, a fan of Premier, you know, those are the first two names that come to my mind. You know, I've learned a lot from every person I've collaborated with, from Madlib to Jean Grae and Hi-Tek, to Mos to DJ Quik, to even somebody like Jermaine Dupri. I've taken something important away from every experience.

As long as I'm around the cats in the hip hop scene, they'll throw me a track and I'll write a rap over it.

No I.D. is actually married to my cousin, and my cousin is my manager. So I met him when she met him many years ago. I was in the studio and he hooked me up with a bunch of producers that he knew.

To be able to work with Bun B and be able to have a conversation, and the insights the OG has, and really be able to get just advice from him, is amazing.

That's the thing: I'm not opposed to working with people. I'm just not one of these people that feels the need to hop around the industry and get this guy's beat and get this guy's hook.

I'm consistently recording and releasing stuff online or YouTube videos or whatever it is. I just don't know if it's going to be a full on, I'm the next Rihanna, or whatever. I'm not going for it to that level. But I love making music and I don't think I could stop if I wanted to.

That's Tommy, this great producer who comes in contact with people and must have a mental library of personnel who are great for this and great for that, and he brought this whole group of musicians to the project that I'd never worked with before.

All of them had so much to offer us as far as, you know, knowledge in the music industry, and especially Randy and Paula because, you know, they've been artists.

It's a good community, country music, because we get the chance to sit down and... me and Tim McGraw spend a lot of time. Me and Kenny Chesney had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together. It's been a lot of great advice through the years.

The great thing about Nashville back in the day was that the old guys hung out where the young guys were. The established writers like Harlan Howard and Jack Clement gave us encouragement and passed the guitar, you know? Chet Atkins let me sit in on his sessions. Everybody was good to us, and everybody loved the music.

When Rick Ross made 'Hustlin',' Rick Ross also helped those producers become some of the biggest producers in the world.

I got a chance to work with Mystikal and Mannie Fresh and Juvenile and all these people as I was growing up, and so that really influenced everything I do.

Shortly after I moved to Los Angeles, I was looking for work, and I happened to be invited to Ray's studio and sat in and played on a couple of his demos. I didn't charge him a dime for it. I was on cloud nine to be working in the same room as Ray Charles, one of my huge idols.

I would love to work with Pharrell one day. Like, my biggest dream.

Somebody who really inspired me to wanna start writing songs is The-Dream, so if The-Dream was to hit me up and be like, 'Yo you wanna do this?,' I'd be all for it. I would love that, actually.

I have a really good relationship with a lot of people in the music industry from Detroit. They're very kind when it comes to us stepping into their field or what they do and they're really willing to help out and help you get better at what you're trying to do.

I definitely like making my friends in the music industry.

I want to work very hard on music, put out a lot of nice product - good quality product - and then just help people out, like a Gucci Mane, like a Future... like a Prince, like a Michael Jackson.

There's a lot going on music-wise in L.A. It's a wicked place to wake up, there's sunshine, you go to the studio, see all these really talented producers.

My first significant break was when I was 15, going on 16, and my cousin Courtney 'Bear' Sills told me you can make a career out of writing songs. He was the one who put me in with 112. The first song I did with 112 was 'We Can Do It Anywhere.'

Being a new artist, I was trying to make a good album and hope that people like Kool Moe Dee and Melle Mel and some of the firstborns appreciated it. I was being influenced by them brothers there. That's where I got my start and my first listen.

Avicii's been a supporter of my music for years, and we've been writing songs together for a long time.

I really believed in 2 Chainz, I really believed in Future, and I was going to the studio with them every single day.

I'm no longer the young guy in No I.D.'s studio asking for Kanye beats.

The South Side loves me - I've got a song with Jermaine Dupri - and I've got songs on the East Coast and songs on the West Coast. Now, if I could just find me a rapper from up North.