Dean’s list DJ: Kevin Davis, producer to Megan Thee Stallion, more, excelled at MTSU

By day, Kevin Davis spent the last three years earning his degree from MTSU. By night, DJ KJ made beats for the biggest rappers in the game, like Megan Thee Stallion, Kanye West and Moneybagg Yo.

22-year-old Davis, who also goes by DJ KJ and KjLetTheBeatKnock, is a RIAA-certified 20x Billboard Charting Producer. Recently, he was awarded the title of Memphis Hip-Hop Producer Of The Year.

Now a Nashville-based hip-hop and country music producer with his own production company called Beatknockerz, Davis has spent time in the studio with GloRilla, Lil Baby, Rob49, Offset, YTB FATT, Yo Gotti, Dj Drama, Big Homie G, Big30 and Big Boogie.

You may know him from his work on songs "Backseat of the Rolls Truck" for Big30, "Alright" by Rob49, "Water" by Dee Mula and "More Sick" by Moneybagg Yo.

These are among the 200 tracks Davis has worked on, he said.

Around the time his producing career started taking off, Davis was pursuing his degree in Music Business from MTSU.

Even with his blossoming hip-hop career, he made the Dean's List at MTSU and graduated on May 4.

DJ KJ begins producing beats in small town of Somerville, TN

Davis is from Somerville, TN, a small town outside of Memphis. He grew up playing music in church since he was three years old, performing on the drums and piano.

From an early age, Davis said his family has always pushed him to pursue music.

"My mom was like, music's your thing. Stop trying to follow your friend's dreams, stay with what God blessed you with," Davis said. He added that his "Pops" always helped keep him motivated.

As a kid, KJ remembers thinking: "I can't rap. I can't sing. I just gotta start making beats!" So beats he made.

He started DJing in middle school, throwing parties in his backyard for the whole town to attend. He would DJ at whatever events would have him out; he remembers playing BlocBoy JB's song "Shoot" and people hitting the Nae Nae dance when he was just starting out.

Around 11th grade, Davis signed to his current label, Nless Entertainment, owned by former NBA star Zach Randolph and Marcus "Head" Howell. Kemario Brown, the VP of Nless, sealed the deal to bring DJ KJ on board.

Davis' vibe fit in with the label's energy; his music has "hard knocking bass with a low tempo," KJ said.

The current label members include Moneybagg Yo, Big 30, Big Homie G, Dee Mula, Lonely Girl, Leebo, Dracbaby, Fredo Ruthless, Fatt Pockets and OG DBerry. At the time, TurnmeupYC was also signed to NLess—he attended the same high school as Davis, Fayette-Ware.

Davis said that shortly after signing with the label, he was the first one done with his ACT since he knew he would be pursuing music. Though he had a career waiting for him, those around him pushed him to stay in school.

"I knew I had to finish high school," he said. "My parents, they're big on education. The label was big on education."

KJ moved to Nashville after graduating from high school and began attending SAE Institute of Technology at Nashville, taking classes online during COVID.

But when the world returned back to normal after the pandemic and KJ had to go in for class, his schedule had gotten too crazy to balance music and college—his career was taking off, so he dropped out.

He remembers major rappers stopping in Nashville on tours to work with him. He spent time with Lil Baby, YTBFed, Moneybagg Yo, GloRilla, Rob29, Offset, French Montana, Willie Jones, Kanye West—sometimes in Nashville sometimes in Atlanta.

"It's very cool. They take a liking to me because I'm super humble," he said. "When I get in the room, I'm big on positive vibes. I work with pretty much everybody, for real," Davis said.

But Davis' folks, specifically his dad, were still pushing him to continue pursuing an education. He decided to give another program a try.

His sister had just graduated from MTSU, so he moved to Murfreesboro to learn Music Business and Business Administration.

"At first it was rocky," Davis said about balancing music and school. "Then I remembered, if I could do this in high school, I could do it again. I knew whatever I start, I gotta finish."

During his freshman year, he would be flying out of town to produce for Future and Migos. He was working hard to balance both of his worlds.

"I met Dean Beverly Keel," he said. "We had different conversations on how to manage my time to be able to travel. I had to connect with my professors, letting them know what I had going on. It was rough at first."

Davis remembers some individuals in the music community telling him to drop out since he had already made it as a producer.

He remembers others, like Offset (born Kiari Kendrell Cephus), who were integral to keeping Davis motivated to finish.

His freshman year at MTSU, Offset FaceTimed Davis and asked if he wanted to come produce for him that weekend in L.A. Davis remembers saying, "I cant. I got class in the morning. I'm finna drop out. I can't keep missing out on opportunities."

To his memory, Offset responded: "No, lil bro stay in school. Please just stay in school. You're gonna save a lot of lives. That will set you apart from a lot of other producers."

Offset told Davis he could do both school and music production and that he would inspire a lot of kids who listen to his music. He told him that he was proud of him.

For Davis, that moment put a spark back into him to keep going.

"By finishing college, I'll be motivating to a lot of people—younger than me and older than me," he said. Davis was emotional talking about his recent graduation; it hadn't quite set in yet.

Now, post-graduation, he's moved back to Nashville full-time and is ready to continue his production career. He has other goals, too. Moving forward, he wants to give back to his hometown.

Davis recently started his own production company, Beatknockerz. He wants to use it as a platform to help teach children about creating music and pass on the music business knowledge he learned at MTSU.

"I want to grant kids opportunities to work alongside some big artists," he said. "I want to reach back and help the ones who might not have access to what I have access to. Be a good citizen."

One day, he wants to build a studio with educational components in Somerville to teach kids music production skills. He already knows what he'll call it: Knock Academy.

This way, he can give his hometown and surrounding Memphis counties the musical opportunities he had growing up—that's DJ JK's real dream.

To stay up to date with DJ KJ's production credits, head to Genius.com/artists/Kjletthebeatknock.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville's DJ KJ produced music for Kanye, GloRilla, 21 Savage, more