What Is #MonstersUnderMyBed? Tay-K's First Album Since 2017's The Race

#MonstersUnderMyBed is the first full-length album from Tay-K since The Race turned him into an unlikely viral phenomenon in 2017 when he was seventeen years old and on the run from law enforcement. The album dropped November 13, 2026 through digital distribution and arrived on all major streaming services on that date. Where The Race was raw and urgent - made in the middle of a manhunt - #MonstersUnderMyBed is the work of an older artist with nine years of reflection behind him, still working with what little access prison allows.

The album came together through the work of producers John Cunningham and Warpstr, who worked with Tay-K across roughly three years of phone calls from his Texas cell. The lead single "F**K U" reflects on Tay-K's childhood and his prison experience, according to coverage from The Fader. The 2026 rollout also included earlier singles "PUNCH YOU DOWN," "Everywhere I Go," and "Erupt," each setting a different tone before the full project landed. For more coverage of Atlanta's hip-hop landscape, check the Di-VerZe DJ Mixes page, where new music stays in rotation.

#MonstersUnderMyBed - Album At a Glance
ArtistTay-K
Release DateNovember 13, 2026
Previous ProjectThe Race (2017)
Recording MethodPrison phone sessions
Lead Single"F**K U" (2026)

Three Years of Prison Phone Sessions - How #MonstersUnderMyBed Was Made

Most albums begin in a studio. #MonstersUnderMyBed began on a prison phone line. Tay-K is currently serving a 55-year sentence following a 2016 murder conviction in Texas, with an additional 80-year sentence added in 2025 following a second murder conviction. Despite those circumstances, he found producers willing to work with him over the phone. The result of roughly three years of calls and remote collaboration is an album that was written, recorded, and arranged without Tay-K ever stepping inside a recording studio.

Phone-recorded music is rare at any level. At the level Tay-K operated before his conviction - The Race gained national attention in 2017 while he was evading authorities - it is essentially unprecedented. The technical limitations are significant: prison phone systems are designed for brief calls, not production sessions. That Cunningham and Warpstr stayed committed across three years of that process reflects genuine belief in the material. The album exists because an incarcerated artist and outside collaborators found a way to work around every obvious obstacle.

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Four Singles Set Up the Release - What to Expect From #MonstersUnderMyBed

Before #MonstersUnderMyBed arrived on November 13, Tay-K released four singles in 2026: "F**K U," "PUNCH YOU DOWN," "Everywhere I Go," and "Erupt." The lead single "F**K U" drew the most attention, reflecting on Tay-K's childhood and his prison experience in a track that proved the artist's voice had not dimmed across nearly a decade away from releasing music. The rollout created a clear moment of anticipation in hip-hop, with fans who remembered The Race turning up to hear what remained.

The question of what #MonstersUnderMyBed represents for Tay-K's legacy is complicated. He made The Race at 17, then spent nearly his entire adult life behind bars. The album is not a comeback in any conventional sense - Tay-K is not walking out of prison. It is an artist using the only tool available to him to continue making music. That is a story hip-hop rarely tells, and Di-VerZe E.N.T is covering it on the Di-VerZe News page alongside the full November 2026 release calendar.

Stream #MonstersUnderMyBed and Submit Your Music to Di-VerZe HitZ Radio

#MonstersUnderMyBed is streaming now on all major platforms. For hip-hop fans in Atlanta, the story of how Tay-K built this album with nothing but a phone connection is exactly the kind of unfiltered street reporting that Di-VerZe HitZ Radio covers - available free, 24/7, on web, iOS, and Android, with song request capability. And for independent artists inspired by what this album proves - that the music can get out regardless of your circumstances - the Di-VerZe free radio submission page is open now. Submit with your ISRC code and your airplay starts tracking performance royalties immediately.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When did Tay-K release #MonstersUnderMyBed? Tay-K released #MonstersUnderMyBed on November 13, 2026. It is his first full album since The Race went viral in 2017, nearly a decade between projects.
How did Tay-K record an album from prison? Tay-K recorded the album entirely via phone sessions with outside producers John Cunningham and Warpstr over approximately three years while incarcerated in Texas serving two murder convictions.
What is Tay-K's prison sentence? Tay-K is serving a 55-year sentence from a 2016 murder conviction in Texas and received an additional 80-year sentence in 2025 for a second murder conviction, both in Texas.
What was Tay-K's breakthrough song before prison? Tay-K's breakthrough was The Race, which went viral in 2017 while he was evading authorities. That was his last significant project before #MonstersUnderMyBed arrived in November 2026.

Sources

Reporting & References
SourceThe Fader
SourceIBTimes UK
SourceCreepy Catalog