Kay Slay, born Keith Grayson, died on April 17 after battling COVID-19 for months. Styles P of The LOX posted on Instagram, “@kayslay will live forever. He embodied what the words culture and support means!! !He truly truly, truly put on for the city and Hip-Hop. Energy nor legends never die.”

DJ Kay Slay is indeed the embodiment of Hip-Hop. Kay started as a graffiti artist who originally tagged as "Spade," and he was featured in the seminal 1983 Hip-Hop documentary, Style Wars. “My main name is 'Dez TFA,'" the young graf artist explains in the doc. "But the name I started out with was 'Spade 429.' After awhile, you get tired of writing the same name, and you want to expand."

“I wanted a nice small name that I could get up everywhere and do it quick. I took the 'D' and 'E' from 'Spade' and I wanted to use a letter that no one else hardly used, so I took the 'Z.' After 'Dez,' I started adding pieces on like 'Dezzy Dez.' That’s how graffiti goes.”