A native of Brooklyn, Tay Rixh started rapping around 2018 as a result of some positive peer pressure from friends who were already into music themselves. He initially messed around in their studio sessions, before taking it seriously in 2019 and dropping his debut project in 2020. The aptly titled “Pandemic,” would be the first of Tay Rixh’s three projects to drop that year. It serves as a nice proof of concept that he can in fact rap, but it also suffers from being his first project. Some of the vocals come off muddy due to the mixing, or sound like there was too much reverb added. He followed it up with “After Dark,” a 6-track EP where he expands on the sound he used in “Pandemic.” A more concise tape, it is certainly more enjoyable than its predecessor and comes off like Tay Rixh was aware of the shortcomings his first time around. His third and final project of 2020 came in the form of “Epidemic,” a thematic successor to “Pandemic,” and also sees him step out of the realm of Drill. On “Fuego,” he spits over a booming trap beat instead, resulting in my favorite track from the project. Considering his last two projects had been Drill, this breath of fresh air was much welcomed, and found itself on repeat after my first listen.
Since 2020, Tay has slowed down from the pace he set when he burst onto the scene. He only dropped a couple of tracks and one full-length project, “Devil’s Advocate,” in 2021. It is a 13-track effort, and Tay’s longest project so far, where mainly stays in his Drill lane. After getting a peak at a more versatile Tay Rixh in “After Dark,” it was disappointing to see him regress to his Drill roots. Although as a Drill album it is still a solid body of work. His most recent body of work, “Dead or Alive,” arrived in July of this year. It’s considerably shorter than “Devil’s Advocate,” at 7 songs compared to 13, but that works heavily in its favor. As the most current representation of his sound, it is my favorite project of Tay Rixh’s by far. Although it's still very much a Drill-focused production, there’s more variation this time around, as well as a noticeable elevation in the mixing. His vocals have a polish that was missing in previous records, and his willingness to switch a flow alongside the beat proved to be a fun component of some songs. The track “End of The Galaxy,” is the best example of this method. Although it starts off with a Drill beat, it switches up into several different genres and allows Tay to show off how much more he can actually do, without straying too far from the space where he feels most comfortable.
Although I was more appreciative of the moments of flexibility across his different projects, there is still much to be said about the rest of what Tay Rixh brings to the table. His consistency is something to be noted, as dropping 3 projects in one year is quite the feat. Even if his singles haven’t been as consistent, he’s still managed to drop at least one project every year since he started releasing music. He’s also got quite the lyrical talent crafting, punchy one-liners in between the grah-grah-boom ad libs we’ve come to know and love from other Drill tracks. No matter what he decides to release in 2023, I am looking forward to hearing what it will be. Listen to the music yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments down below!
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