slayr

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2007, Evan McDonald releases music under the name slayr. His trajectory was shaped early on by online communities and an emerging rap scene centered around Discord. slayr’s sound sits between rage rap, trap and digicore: short, dense, melodic tracks driven by a frontal energy where singing and rapping intersect over digital-textured productions. His first widely circulated track, “Fourth Gear Cypher!”, came out in 2021, followed by a series of self-released projects that quickly defined his path — Gaia (2023), Stay Safe (2024), Gaia 2 (2024), HeavenTunes (2025) and Half Blood (2025). The latter marked a more visible step, extended by the reissue Half Blood (BloodLuxe) in 2026 when slayr signed with Columbia Records. In this recent phase he collaborated notably with Lucy Bedroque on Half Blood and with Tiffany Day on “Constantly” in 2026, and he played major festival stages such as Rolling Loud Orlando and Summer Smash in 2026 — a register where the rhythmic impact of rage meets a more melodic, introspective songwriting.