Ray Vaughn just released his first TDE full-length project with the mixtape The Good The Bad The Dollar Menu, but his artistic path has been much longer. In a new interview with Billboard, the Long Beach rapper spoke on his journey and on this new record.
His family has always been deep in hip-hop. Vaughn's uncle and mother were skilled MCs, and the latter hosted freestyle sessions at her home. By the time he was 15, he was building a buzz, but his mom strayed him away from most label deals, including a Def Jam reach-out. She eventually kicked the "KLOWN dance" spitter out of the house, leading to street involvement and brick-by-brick career moves.
Eventually, in 2019, Ray Vaughn ran into Ricky Anderson at a New Year's Eve party, the cousin of Kanye West who ran G.O.O.D. Music at the time. Vaughn put some of his tracks at the party, and Anderson set up a face-to-face meeting with Ye.
"He’s crazy, but he’s a genius," he said of the Yeezy mogul. Apparently, the "DOLLAR menu" artist wrote some songs for Kanye and set up a meeting to discuss a potential label deal. But on the day of that meeting, he found an empty room and did not hear from G.O.O.D. Music or its superstar again.
When Did Ray Vaughn Sign To TDE?
"That same day, I said to my manager, ‘Bro I’m still sleeping in my car, I don’t know what the f**k I’m doing!" Vaughn recalled. However, his manager brought up an opportunity to possibly work with Jay Rock. Weeks later, Top Dawg Entertainment called, and Ray Vaughn signed with TDE in 2020.
These days, Kanye West is drawing other cousin-related controversies, although this one is not Ricky Anderson. He also has deep rap beef with many colleagues today, including former Top Dawg artist Kendrick Lamar.
As such, we can't help but wonder what Ye might say about all this. Nevertheless, Ray Vaughn is on his own path, and we're sure he doesn't regret how his career panned out thus far. We imagine the hypothetical scenario of his G.O.O.D. Music rise will live only in our imaginations.
