TDE’s Ray Vaughn Affirms The Release Of His Debut Mixtape
Top Dawg Entertainment stands firmly at the forefront of hip-hop and R&B, ushering in acts that have reimagined and laid the groundwork for the chart-topping music heard around the world today; and now their rising star and Tidal’s 2025 Artist to Watch, Ray Vaughn, is tapping into the same tutelage and track record for success as his TDE brethren for his long-awaited debut mixtape, The Good The Bad The Dollar Menu.
Ray’s debut will drop April 18th, off the West Coast’s leading label and is available for pre-save HERE.
The announcement of the mixtape release date is accompanied by the new single “DOLLAR menu,” available everywhere HERE. The Tariq, OHGODDC, Vinnyforgood, Playoffs and Yalabear produced cut opens up with the bar “Last night I had sleep for dinner,” which acts as the narrative through-line to the almost prelapsarian magnum opus the mixtape acts as for Ray, embodying the hunger and fierce grit the young MC possesses.
One of the project’s core tenets, the track sets listeners up to enter a universe that finds the budding artist building melodic poetry to some of the much darker experiences of his humble beginnings.
The journey to mixtape kicked off with the widely critically acclaimed Pusha T collaboration, “Problems.” With his ability to kickstart our adrenaline with tracks like the NLE Choppa-assisted Rayo and Jack LoMastro produced “FNBM” to the more enigmatic “EAST CHATT” with labelmate Isaiah Rashad, Ray continued with his array of earworms, highlighting his evolving versatility.
Throughout, he has remained consistent in his continuous onslaught of lyricism and content, revving his audiences up for his official debut. He reignited teasing of the mixtape earlier this year, with autobiographically-charged tracks, from the percussive “CEMETERY lanterns” to recent single “FLAT shasta” featuring the ethereal vocals of Ash Leone. Ray Vaughn’s laser focus on musical prominence has become crystal clear and he has the foundation in TDE to achieve it.
