D-Tay

Nashville native son rapper D-Tay was well on his way to superstardom. After receiving rave reviews from classic underground album Thuggin’ Til the End with childhood friend Young Buck in 2000, touring across the globe with the likes of Eminem and G-Unit and flexing his lyrical muscle on “Taking Hits” from Young Buck’s platinum solo debut Straight Outta Ca$hville, the future shined brightly for the hard-hitting hometown hero.

With his name on the lips of such multi-platinum executives as 50 Cent, D-Tay was scheduled to be the flagship artist on emerging G-Unit South imprint along with Atlanta artist Lil Scrappy. But because of internal conflicts within the label, his career was briefly put on hold. Now recently signed to a winning team, Nashville label Felonious Records, he is now awaiting the release of his upcoming as-yet-untitled solo debut.

“I got fans from all over, but I’ve never dropped a solo,” he says. “The streets are waiting for it.”

Born Dante Reed and raised between Nashville’s East and South sides, Tay has been rapping for about as long as he could form syllables. He got his name hot around town rapping in high school talent shows with childhood friend Young Buck and even performing at the Apollo. But between bussing rhymes, this product of the city’s seedy crime-ridden streets was forced to make ends meet hustling.

“I came up in the ghetto,” he describes. “I come from a place where gunshots rang out at night.”

Unfortunately, though, the ghetto almost sucked him and Buck under one night while they were hard on the grind. Masked gunmen ran into the house with intentions of robbing them of their drugs and money and killing them. Buck was shot in the leg and the arm.

“We were in the trap spot doing what we had to do to get money when these cats rushed in,” he remembers. “I ended up in a shootout with them and managed to get Buck and myself out the house. I saved his life and mine too. There is a lot of street credibility that comes with my lyrics.”

Around the same time, the streets were buzzing more about their talents on the microphone instead of exploits in the streets. So an emerging record label scooped them up to release their Young Buck and D-Tay’s seminal duo album Thuggin’ Til the End in 2000. And the fans ate it up.
“When we put that album out and I saw the effect that it had,” he admits, “I knew this music was serious…Music saved my life. It took me out of the streets. It didn’t take me all the way out because Nashville is the streets.”

Even though he saw the potential to make big bucks in music, he never left the streets alone completely. It just so happened that Young Buck secured a deal with 50 Cent’s G-Unit label and every step of the way, Buck brought his longtime friend along with him every step of the way.

“50 was actually going to have Buck put me out on G-Unit South. He liked the way I flowed,” Tay recalls. “Me and Lil Scrappy were supposed to be the first artists but Buck made a few mistakes.”

After Buck departed from the label, so were plans of Tay’s recording deal. “Being around Eminem and all of them, I didn’t come out on the money end but I came out with all the wisdom and the knowledge of how to get money,” he admits. “I’ve been around so many artists that I take their charisma and add it own to me. I learn and adapt it to myself.”

Now signed to Nashville-based label Felonious Records, he has taken his future into his own hands and is now awaiting the release of his upcoming as-yet-untitled solo debut.

“I was following Buck’s lead so now it’s time to establish my life and follow D-Tay,” he says. “I got a lot of creativity with my talent. The fans have been waiting for it and I’m ready to give it to them.”

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