Aaliyah names Rodney Jerkins
On Aaliyah’s 1996 song “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” Rodney Jerkins recalled to People in 2025, she opens by calling out to him: “Hey Rodney, you ready?” “That was another way of getting the name out there, tagged,” he said.[3] The story of R&B’s tags, including Jerkins’ own “Darkchild 99,” is told in our R&B guide.
Gomes’ “Maybach Music” became the signature of a label. Her own summary, in 2012: “It’s obviously very flattering, but it’s also luck that I was there and he decided to use those words.”[1]
No, I don’t get paid for it. I don’t think I should be paid for it.
The voice in “Mike WiLL Made-It”
The tag that opened many of the 2010s’ biggest rap records is a woman’s voice. At a Red Bull Music Academy lecture in 2016, Mike WiLL Made-It said he was working with a songwriter he called his “home girl,” “like my sister,” who “just had a dope voice.” He had records out with Gucci Mane, Soulja Boy and 2 Chainz, but nobody could point them back to him, so he asked her to say his name. When she tried it in a whisper, he stopped her: “no more whisper,” (play: Mike WiLL Made-It on recording his tag, Red Bull Music Academy, 2016) he recalled. They stacked effects on her take, and it still sounded “like a McDonald’s commercial” to him until he pulled it up again later and kept processing it.[4] The lecture’s automatic captions garble her name, so we haven’t printed it.
Her take went on to open records from 2012 to 2018, from “Black Beatles” to “HUMBLE.,” and if you heard it, The Cornell Daily Sun wrote in 2025, “you knew the song was going to be everywhere.”[5]
“Oh my God, Ronny” · Ronny J
Ronny J’s tag began at a house party in Los Angeles. A friend asked a woman there to say “Oh my God, Ronny” into the microphone. She tried it once or twice, and Ronny immediately wanted the recording for a tag, he told The FADER in 2018. He called it “the calm before the storm.” The interview does not name her.[6]
Hear that contrast in Smokepurpp’s “Audi” video. The exclamation introduces the distorted bass that became Ronny’s signature. A casual party recording became an introduction to his released beats.[6]
“Buddah bless this beat” · Buddah Bless
“I had this girl say it that I knew from back in the day,” Buddah Bless told The Hip Hop Museum in 2025. His producer name came from his Uncle Joe, who taught him to produce and called him Buddah Bless; Buddah is his middle name. The woman gave that name its recorded introduction.[7]
Play Migos’ “Call Casting” video to hear the tag on a record. “Buddah bless this beat” turns his name into a request before the rappers take over. Another example is 2 Chainz and Drake’s “Big Amount”.[7]
“Honorable C.N.O.T.E.” · Da Honorable C.N.O.T.E.
“Honorable C.N.O.T.E.” uses the name itself as the signature. Hear the delivery in A$AP Ferg and Future’s “New Level” video. C.N.O.T.E. also discusses the origins of his beat tags in this DJ Smallz Eyes interview. That is a starting point for his own account; we have not established a reliable speaker credit for the take here.[8]
“Wake up, F1lthy” · F1lthy
F1lthy’s tag, “wake up, F1lthy,” (play: F1lthy’s tag, “Wake up, F1lthy”) is a beep and a soft woman’s voice, British according to Know Your Meme;[9] it became a TikTok sound and, in 2025, the title of a Playboi Carti song, as we wrote here. The same phrase can now identify a beatmaker or a song. Know Your Meme does not identify the woman who recorded it.
For the tag on a record, play Ken Carson’s “Freestyle 2” video alongside this section.[5]
“I’m working on dying” · Working on Dying
Working on Dying’s collective signature, “I’m working on dying,” (play: Working on Dying’s collective tag) belongs beside F1lthy’s individual tag. The name came from member Loosie during a difficult period after his father died, he told The FADER. It became the title of the crew’s early-2014 mixtape and then the group’s name. That explains the words, while leaving the voice credit unresolved.[10]
Hear it on The Khan and Lil Tracy’s “Vices,” produced by Oogie Mane. More of the crew’s story is in our rage producer-tag guide.[5]
“BNYX” · BNYX
The short “BNYX” drop (play: BNYX’s producer tag) makes a name recognizable in just a few syllables. BNYX told Complex he discovered his Drake placement when the “Search & Rescue” preview played his tag.[11] Hear it in context on Drake’s “Search & Rescue”. The accompanying video gives another song example: Yeat’s “Out thë way.” The tag’s speaker is not identified here.
“Ramy on the beat” · RamyOnTheBeat
RamyOnTheBeat’s tag keeps the whole producer name in one phrase. Hear it in Key Glock’s “Murder & Millions” video, or play the opening of “Gang Shit No Lame Shit” (play: RamyOnTheBeat’s tag in the opening of Key Glock’s “Gang Shit No Lame Shit”). The latter’s official upload prints “RamyOnTheBeat” in its intro lyrics, and the release credits name Ramy as the producer.[12]
The performer behind the tag is not named in those credits.
“Good job, 1st” · FKi 1st
FKi 1st has male and female versions of “Good job, 1st.” The female take is heard at 0:02 in Migos and Post Malone’s “Notice Me”; the player opens at that moment.[13]
There is a separate credit for the male version. In a 2023 DJ Smallz Eyes interview, FKi 1st credits Larry June with his tag (play: FKi 1st credits Larry June with his producer tag, DJ Smallz Eyes, 2023). That credit should not be carried over to the female take, whose performer is not identified here.[14]
Choosing the voice
Today a producer can choose a woman’s voice on purpose and know her name from the start. VoiceTagGods, which publishes this blog, sells tags recorded by vocalists who are women and men; the right one is whichever voice a producer likes on the previews.
Rick Ross credited Gomes in 2023, 15 years after the session. “Have you ever wondered who is THE VOICE behind the infamous Maybach Music tag,” he wrote in 2023. “Let me introduce you to the talented Jessica Gomes.”[2]