Keith Grayson (August 14, 1966 – April 17, 2022), professionally known as DJ Kay Slay, was an American

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

(DJ) from New York City. He is referred to by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as "Hip Hop's One-Man Ministry of Insults". He released four studio albums, ''

The Streetsweeper, Vol. 1 ''The Streetsweeper, Vol. 1'' is the debut studio album by American DJ DJ Kay Slay, released on May 20, 2003 through Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Cor ...

'', '' The Streetsweeper, Vol. 2'', '' The Champions: North Meets South'' (with Greg Street), and '' More Than Just a DJ''.

Early life

Grayson was born August 14, 1966, in New York City. He was originally a prominent

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artist, having been featured in the 1983 hip hop documentary, ''

Style Wars ''Style Wars'' is an American 1983 documentary film on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent ...

''. One of Grayson's better known tags was "Dez". As a youth involved in New York's flourishing hip hop scene, Keith witnessed firsthand the ascent of legendary disc jockeys such as Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizzard Theodore, and

Kool DJ Red Alert Frederick Crute (born November 27, 1956), known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and cultur ...

, in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. "I didn't so much set out to be a DJ," he said. "It was just something to do that was fun and that I enjoyed doing." With the decline of the graffiti movement in the late 1980s, Dez began dealing with narcotics and consequently ended up in jail by the late 1980s. Grayson was released from jail in 1990, and claimed to have abstained from using drugs thereafter. He hailed from the East River Houses located in East Harlem, New York.

Career

2003–2009: ''Streetsweeper'' series

DJ Kay Slay released his debut album, ''

'', on May 20, 2003. In the summer of 2003, Kay Slay released a single, accompanied by a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, for a song titled "Too Much For Me". The single, which features a chorus sung by then-up-and-coming singer

Amerie Amerie Mi Marie Nicholson ( Rogers; born January 12, 1980) is an American singer. Born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, she gained an appreciation of the classical arts from her mother Mi Suk Rogers and of music from her father Charles Rogers, and ...

, also features verses from American rappers Birdman,

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

, and Foxy Brown. The song peaked at number 53 on the US ''Billboard''

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart, making it the DJ's highest-charting single to date. The single's music video includes

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s by

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the ag ...

N.O.R.E. Victor James Santiago Jr. (born September 6, 1977), better known by his stage names Noreaga and later N.O.R.E., is an American rapper. Born and raised in Queens, New York, Santiago first rose to prominence as one half of the East Coast hip hop du ...

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success ...

, WC, and

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, alongside childhood friends 50 Cent and Tony Yayo. After th ...

. Although the song was not a major success, its music video was aired on

MTV Jams BET Jams is an American pay television network controlled by BET Networks and owned by Paramount Media Networks. The channel features hip-hop and urban contemporary music videos. The network, formerly known as MTV Jams, was rebranded under the B ...

and

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

. The "Too Much For Me" video did not feature Nas (because of Nas' solo projects) or Baby; so Loon was featured instead. This replacement started a feud between Nas and Kay Slay. On March 30, 2004, Kay Slay's second album '' The Streetsweeper, Vol. 2'', was released. Another single and video were released for "Who Gives A...Where You From" with

Three 6 Mafia Three 6 Mafia is an American hip hop group from Memphis, Tennessee, formed in 1991. Emerging as a horror-themed underground hip hop group, they would eventually go on to enjoy mainstream success. The group's 1995 debut album ''Mystic Stylez'' ...

, which peaked at number 89 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Kay Slay and the song were featured on the 2004

NFL Street ''NFL Street'' is an American football video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. It was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox on January 13, 2004. Barry Sanders of the Detroit ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

2010–2022: ''More Than Just a DJ'' and ''Rhyme or Die''

After releasing '' More Than Just a DJ'' in 2010, ''Rhyme or Die'' was released. The first album's initial two singles "60 Second Assassins" featuring Busta Rhymes,

Layzie Bone Steven Howse (born September 23, 1974), known professionally as Layzie Bone, is a rapper known primarily for being a member of the group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. He has also gone by the names L-Burna and The #1 Assassin. He is the younger brother ...

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, and

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and "The Kings of the Streets" featuring

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper. Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station 99 Jamz, a ...

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, DJ Doo Wop, and Fly Nate were released in 2011. In 2013, "About That Life" featuring

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, T-Pain, Rick Ross, Nelly, and French Montana was released as a single from ''Rhyme or Die''. It debuted and peaked at #54 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, making it one of Kay Slay's most successful singles to date. In the beginning of 2014, "Free Again" was released featuring Fat Joe and 50 Cent, which came as a surprise for some seeing as how they had "beef" before, but later reconciled. In 2021, Dj Kay Slay released the track "Rolling 110 Deep" which featured 110 hip hop artists with contributing verses from Ice-T,

Shaq Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...

Coke La Rock Coke La Rock (aka Coco La Rock; born April 24, 1955) is an old-school rapper from New York City who is sometimes credited as being the first MC in the history of hip-hop. In November 2010, Coke La Rock was inducted into the High Times Count ...

, KRS-One,

Kool G Rap Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper from Queens, New York City. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and a ...

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

Roy Jones Jr Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...

Omar Epps Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. He has been awarded nine NAACP Image Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, one MTV Movie Award, one Black Reel Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award. Epps's film r ...

, and others.

Illness and death

In January 2022, DJ Kay Slay's brother said he was in the hospital after contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, but was "in a recovery state". He died from COVID-19 in New York City on April 17, 2022, at the age of 55.

Discography

Studio albums

Collaborative albums

Mixtapes

Singles

References

External links

DJ Kay Slay's Hot 97 web page biography
* DJ Kay Slay charts: * The information in the personal section is from Circuit City's DJ Kay Slay bi
Circuit City-Music: DJ Kayslay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kay Slay, DJ 1966 births 2022 deaths African-American musicians American graffiti artists American prisoners and detainees East Coast hip hop musicians Mixtape DJs Columbia Records artists Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) Five percenters Musicians from New York City MNRK Music Group artists American hip hop DJs American music industry executives 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people