Tay-K’s “The Race” is one of the most prominent examples of the blurred line between real life drama and rap – but it’s also noteworthy for making some pretty cool history. His manager Ezra Averill is just 17. Averill became the youngest person in music history to A&R a platinum record when “The Race” got its platinum certification in January. He began managing Tay-K and his rap group The Daytona Boyz in 2015, and helped “The Race” ascend by utilizing a network that’s pretty impressive for his age.
Averill has booked shows in the Texas area for acts like Playboi Carti, 21 Savage and various underground Texas rappers. “When I was 15, instead of throwing a birthday party or getting gifts, I told my parents, ‘Give me a little bit of money, and I’ll make you a lot more,”’ he told Forbes in a feature piece. He put on a show called the “Dallas 300” which featured Playboi Carti and Tay-K. “There were a LOT of people who pulled up. It was really an important Dallas show, did crazy numbers, I’m pretty sure we sold out, and from there we just started building,” he recalls.
Tay-K is still awaiting trial on two charges of capital murder, and his 17-year-old co-defendant recently received a 20-year sentence, but Averill says, “I believe wholeheartedly that my brother is innocent.” Elsewhere in the interview, Averill speaks on his desire to help Texas rappers “get some money together” via his Stomp Down record label. He said he had a phone conversation with Dame Dash who gave him some game on “who to watch out for, what these people might do if I go this way, what they might do if I go that way.” Averill also dished on his goals with Stomp Down:
We try to let the artists express themselves and build the brand that they envision. Making their vision a reality though, that process is complicated and we want to be able to educate all our artists on how to move in the industry, how it works behind the scenes. It’s a balance between freedom of expression and education. And besides just the music, let’s let them build their own companies, get their whole team solid, everything from merchandise to comic books to advertisements.
