Slay

Slay (also known by the stage name ManLikeSlay) is a Manchester, UK–based artist who works as a producer and as an MC/vocalist. Within drum & bass and adjacent bass music he operates across drum and bass, jungle and liquid funk while also moving between grime, bassline, bass house, UK garage, UK funky and rage rap.

He came up in Manchester’s grime scene in the 2000s as a member of Mayhem Crew. From those early crews he moved into cross-genre work, recording and featuring on tracks that sit between grime, bass and drum & bass. He has appeared in platform freestyles and competitive events — notably Red Bull’s Grime-A-Side and JDZ Media freestyles — and his live résumé includes sets and appearances at Outlook Festival and The Warehouse Project.

Slay’s catalogue of collaborations maps the variety of his output. He has worked with Chimpo on releases linked to Box N Lock, recorded with Zed Bias on material connected to Biasonic, and teamed with Bou on the track “Closer.” He has credits with Lenzman and Duskee, and links to Foreign Concept (noted alongside the track “Vibe,” which features Roxiie Reese). Most recently he is connected to Sigma on the 2024 track “Kenny.” These named partnerships show his presence across independent bass labels and larger drum & bass acts.

Musically Slay moves between MC delivery and sung vocal work. On grime-led cuts he performs rapid, rhythmically tight verses; on drum & bass and liquid tracks his vocals are used as hooks and toplines that sit over rolling breaks. Across bassline and bass house connections his parts tend to focus on short, memorable phrases and call-and-response lines designed to cut through heavy sub-bass. Where he appears on jungle-leaning material, the vocal parts are treated to short, clipped phrasing that rides syncopated break edits; on liquid or Lenzman-linked tracks his voice is placed in more spacious arrangements with pads and reverb. Publicly available material does not document a detailed list of his studio production techniques, but his credited roles alternate between producing, writing toplines and delivering MC verses depending on the track.

Concrete releases and credits anchor his contributions. “Closer” with Bou is a named collaboration attributed to him in existing sources. His work with Chimpo is associated with Box N Lock releases, and his connection to Zed Bias ties him to Biasonic. He appears in producer-artist pairings with Lenzman and Duskee and is linked to Foreign Concept through references to the track “Vibe” (featuring Roxiie Reese). The collaboration listed with Sigma on “Kenny” (2024) is the most recent dated credit available in public material. Beyond studio credits, his live appearances at Outlook Festival and The Warehouse Project and his Red Bull Grime-A-Side and JDZ Media freestyle features document his role as both a recorded and live MC/vocal presence in bass music circles.

Specific influences and connections are visible in his collaborator list rather than in public statements: working with Zed Bias points to UK garage/2-step connections, Lenzman to liquid drum & bass circles, Bou and Chimpo to the newer bass-heavy experimental side of UK electronic music, and Sigma to mainstream drum & bass production. He emerged from Manchester’s grime crews (Mayhem Crew), which shaped his vocal approach and early performance opportunities.

Public biographical detail on Slay’s studio methods and a complete discography is limited in the public record; the verifiable facts available are his Manchester origins, Mayhem Crew roots, the collaborations and labels listed above, his festival and Warehouse Project appearances, and his documented freestyle sessions on Red Bull and JDZ Media. His most recent confirmed collaboration in sources provided is Sigma’s “Kenny” (2024), which stands as the latest specific credit to date.