Source: MacMediaPromo / Demetrius Chawton Robinson
With any major movement in music there are always background players who made major contributions. The Griselda family has lost one of their main sound men.
DJ Shay, born Demetrius Chawton Robinson, has sadly passed away. The producer has crafted several tracks for his longtime Buffalo, New York associates.
Griselda Records founder Westside Gunn made the announcement via his Instagram account. “U was there EVERY step of the way, It was an honor to help your dream come true for Buffalo Hip Hop, u looked at me and said “thx to you it’s no more Unsigned city… it’s signed city now” 😢😢 u wanted this shit more than ALL of US, it wouldn’t be a Benny, WSG, Armani, Conway, BSF” he wrote.
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A post shared by FLYGOD (@westsidegunn) on Aug 19, 2020 at 6:07am PDT
Gunn went on to reveal that the beatsmith fell victim to Covid-19.
“If it wasn’t for You to watch u DJ was special it was like u were a kid behind those boards, your last thing u said to me was when u beat Corona u wanted a Buffalo Kids Chain” Benny The Butcher also shared his hurt in a very brief but telling social media post. “This hurt right here this was my mentor coach father figure all tht I feel like somebody stole something from me” Benny explained of DJ Shay, also a member of the Black Soprano Family.
DJ Shay was key to developing the Buffalo Rap scene with several influential mixtape releases under his belt stemming from the 2000’s. He was just 48.
Rest in power.
