Tay Keith died on June 18, and an autopsy report said the Grammy-nominated producer’s death was caused by a drug overdose. Metro Nashville Police said no foul play was suspected, while the Office of the Medical Examiner in Nashville, Tennessee ruled the manner of death an accident.
Brytavious Lakeith Chambers was found dead in his apartment during a welfare check. The report listed the cause as a mix of mitragynine, 7-hydroxy mitragynine, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl and ketamine toxicity, which turns the death into a medical finding rather than a criminal one.
Beyonce, Drake and Travis Scott
Keith’s name carried weight well beyond Nashville, Tennessee. He worked with Beyonce, Cardi B, Drake and Travis Scott, produced Look Alive with Drake in 2018, and collected his first Grammy nomination for best rap song for Travis Scott’s Sicko Mode in 2019 before another best rap song nomination in 2024 for Rich Flex by Drake & 21 Savage.
That track record explains why the cause-of-death report landed as industry news, not just local reporting. For a producer whose credits moved through major rap releases and the Grammy Awards, the autopsy closes one part of the story but also fixes the factual record around his final hours.
MTSU and Beverly Keel
Middle Tennessee State University leaders posted a video on social media on June 18 reflecting on his legacy, and Beverly Keel said he had promised his mother that he would earn a college degree. She also said he was the first in his family to graduate college and was later named an honorary professor at MTSU after graduation.
Langston Bleu, who attended MTSU with him, said, “People saw themselves a lot like in Tay, and like their success, particularly I think a lot of like black students at MTSU, and like from Memphis, saw that like success was possible.” Drake wrote on Instagram, “Endless and eternal gratitude for your spirit and your contributions to this thing that we all love so much…you will be deeply missed,” and Travis Scott added, “We gone miss ya broozayy. Gon keep going hard for ya….!!!.”
The record now points to an accidental overdose, not a violent death, and that distinction should shape how the public reads the case. The unresolved part is narrower: how he came into contact with the substances listed in the autopsy report.
