Key Takeaways
- Tay-K calls in from prison on “SPOTLIGHT / INNER CHILD,” the closing track on Dominic Fike’s HOW TO QUIT SMOKING, released Oct. 30.
- Tay-K encourages Fike to “stay connected to like your inner child” and reflects on his mother’s struggle with drug addiction.
- The Texas rapper continues releasing music while serving concurrent 55- and 80-year sentences for murder.
Tay-K calls in from prison for a cathartic conversation with alt-rock musician Dominic Fike to end Fike’s new album on a strong note.
The incarcerated Texas rapper appears on “SPOTLIGHT / INNER CHILD,” the final song on Fike’s new album, HOW TO QUIT SMOKING, which was released Friday (Oct. 30).
“No matter what, what I would say is just stay connected to like your inner child, bro,” Tay-K tells Fike during the song’s last moments.
Tay-K goes on to open up about his mother’s past struggle with drug addiction, telling Fike, “She still got like the glow to just light up the whole entire room.”
The 26-year-old rapper, real name Taymor McIntyre, has been behind bars since he was a teenager following his 2017 breakthrough with "The Race.” While the song catapulted Tay-K to viral fame, “The Race” was recorded while he was on the run from authorities. Three years later, the rapper was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in prison for his part in a fatal 2016 home invasion in which 21-year-old Ethan Walker was killed.
In 2025, Tay-K was sentenced to 80 years in the 2017 murder of 23-year-old photographer Mark Anthony Saldivar, which will be served concurrently with his 55-year sentence. The rapper has appealed both, and while the Walker appeal was denied, the Saldivar appeal is ongoing.
Tay-K, who released his debut album #SantanaWorld in 2017, has returned to music with an animated version of himself in the last year, with recent singles “PUNCH YOU DOWN,” “Erupt” and “Everywhere I Go.” Last week, the rapper called into the Twitch livestream of PlaqueBoy Max and requested beats from the streamer/producer/rapper.
