By Jack Tellier and Valentino, Illustrations by Leo Malatesta

Growing up, Mason Reyes had a mind filled with dreams of superstardom. After becoming the rap artist Maxon Margiela, those dreams began to manifest right in front of his eyes. 

The last week of Maxon’s life was fairly normal, but it was also when he made some of his best work. These songs are part of the greater whole that is “Rainbows After Rain,” Maxon’s posthumous album that was assembled with care by those who were hit hardest when he left this world on November 16, 2025. The album will be released this year on the same day, marking one year since his passing; the majority of the album’s revenue will go to Maxon’s daughter, his family and a suicide prevention foundation.

A few days before his death, Maxon sat outside in the Orlando sun with his best friend, roommate and creative director, Zay. Maxon had recorded enough music to assemble a new album but the two friends wanted this one to be different. Zay and Maxon wanted this to be the breakout album. It had to have a cohesive sound and theming, transitions between songs and a thoughtful rollout.

This year at Off Record Studios in New York City, five young men have been hard at work, putting the finishing touches on the album that Maxon wanted to take his career and reputation to new heights.

EliWTF

EliWTF is a producer and engineer who was a frequent collaborator and close friend of Maxon. Eli has produced songs such as “Austin Powers,” “SUCK!” and “Shroom Freestyle” alongside fellow Off Record Music producer, Hardheaded.

When asked to work on the album, the position initially pitched to Eli was an executive producer role, but it ended up looking more like that of a curator, as he has put together albums with Maxon before.

“It was a very collaborative process,” says Eli. “I guess you could say I was kind of overseeing the cohesion of the project, so that it came to life the way that the other tapes we had worked on in the past did.”  

Maxon and Eli were incredibly close, but they weren’t the type of friends to constantly text or plan times to hang out; the occasional surprise FaceTime call would usually suffice. 

Maxon’s team would have “work trips.” On these trips, his whole production and management team would get together and travel somewhere to stay where the sole focus would be making Maxon’s music. It was normal for Maxon and Eli to not talk much over the phone because they knew they’d see each other soon on the next trip.

The last time the two hung out was not on a group work trip, but coincidentally, they were both on their own trips to Los Angeles. They hung out at Maxon’s Airbnb and talked for a while. Eli texted Maxon a few beats they could use for the next time they got together to record.

This normal day would be the last time the two would see each other.

When first approached to work on the album, Eli shut down the idea.

“I said no. I wasn't sure about how I felt about working on a project without him being there,” says Eli. “It was super weird for me. Everything that we'd worked on in the past was very, very hands-on with him.” 

"When the news hit, music was such a far cry from what I was thinking about, you know what I mean? It was like, I was really thinking about the person that I knew." 

What eventually brought him around was a combination of fan messages in his DMs and a sense of responsibility rooted in how well he knew Maxon and his vision. 

“I know that my intentions are pure with Maxon and his music. So, if someone were to do it, I'd rather it be someone who I know cares about him and executing his vision. And I think there was a part of me that was like, ‘That music deserves to see the world and the world deserves to hear that music.’”

Kim

Kim, known online as 2cb6hb, has found success in artist management and production, and acts as one half of the producer-duo, UAE Designer Drugs. 

As another friend and collaborator of Maxon, he produced fan-favorite tracks — alongside production partner Tammer —  such as “High Like Me” and “Overtime.”

On November 13, 2025, Kim was fixing speakers in his studio that had been blown out previously when Maxon was rehearsing his song, “High Like Me," before a show. While fixing the speakers that night, Kim got a text from the artist, telling him to come to his house so they could work on music. Maxon wanted to finish a song called “Phone Buzzin’.”

“I probably had to do like four different sessions just for ‘Phone Buzzin’’ for him,” says Kim. “Because he only wanted to make ‘Phone Buzzin’’ perfect, right? Which was a little bit uncharacteristic of Maxon too.

You know, Maxon was always … really laid back about music and it's like I was kind of the guy that was always trying to push him to make, like, more of a deeper cut. 

… I feel like for these sessions our roles reversed a little bit, right?”

Kim arrived at Maxon’s with his equipment and what followed was hours of nonstop recording and mixing.

After “Phone Buzzin’” was finished, the two worked on a song called “Margiela” until 1 a.m. Kim was exhausted but knew they had to keep going, so he ate and began sending beats to Maxon’s phone.

There was one beat that Maxon said he “fucking needed.” Together, he and Kim pushed themselves to create “Blinding.” It is the first track on “Rainbows After Rain” and the last song Maxon ever made.

Once the song was complete, Maxon and Kim smoked and talked into the early morning. Maxon was proud of all the work they had done and talked about his plans to purchase his own recording equipment to set up an in-house studio. He told Kim he wanted him to keep coming back to make music.

“It just felt like it was just good to hang with him, you know? It's like, that's my homie. It's always great to pull up on Maxon and make something great.”

During the creation of “Rainbows After Rain,” Kim worked in New York at Off Record with Maxon’s team, as well as back home in Orlando with Tammer.

His whole philosophy on the making of this album stems from a place of archiving works as tastefully as possible. Kim calls the album "documentary style;" it shows where Maxon was mentally and careerwise at the time of recording. “When you have documentary footage, you’re not really directing scenes more than you are just capturing energy” he says.

“People need to listen to it all the way through,” Kim says. “There’s a lot that Maxon would put into his subtext and if you really focus on the underlying message behind the album, you’re gonna realize there’s a major depth to his art that he put in.” 

George and Alex

George Payne is a co-founder of West End Entertainment – an independent record label based in New York City – and was Maxon’s manager from July of 2024 until his passing. Payne runs the label with Alex Solomon, who served as a hybrid between manager and creative director. Solomon convinced Payne to sign Maxon in 2024 after finding him through an Instagram Reel.

They both got Maxon whatever he needed, whenever he needed.

“I was everything. I was: his boy, his therapist, his lawyer, pretty much whatever he needed me to be on a daily basis,” says Payne. 

“If he needed food, I got him his food. If he needed beats, I got him his beats. You know, I was with him at every show,” he says.

Although part of the business side of things, it was also Solomon’s job to provide ideas for video shoots and find a way to make them happen. For the “Tank Davis” music video, Solomon was tasked with getting a real, operating tank. 

He was able to provide Maxon with other fun toys such as a flamethrower, an RV and more. Solomon notes that when given these things, a "mischievous grin” would usually creep across Maxon’s face.

While Payne and Solomon have been in the studio, giving feedback and figuring out the tracklist, an unfortunate amount of their time has been delegated to sorting through finances and record label interference to free the album from its release-limbo. 

The rollout and release of “Rainbows After Rain” has been pushed back multiple times; the team decided it is time to give Maxon the send-off they owe him.

“Let’s finish his career and just remember Mason,” says Solomon. “Let’s just do one shebang, y’know?”

Payne is aware of the stigma around any posthumous project, especially in rap. While most posthumous albums feel like a way to continue feeding the fans and keeping up the momentum of an already successful career, he and Solomon believe this album serves a different purpose.

“Maxon did not get his flowers while he was here as an artist. The goal of this album is to get him the flowers that he should have got while he was here, because the music is class,” says Payne.

“No one wanted to fuck with him when he was alive,” says Solomon. “He never felt ingratiated into the industry and that no one took him seriously.”

Payne assures that, “these are not half-baked demos. These are records that he loved that we’re just taking the time to actually mix and master and do the things to it that you need to be doing to an album.”

“The album that is coming out is pretty much the album that [would release] if he was still here,” adds Payne.

On the night of November 14, Maxon called Payne and the conversation went roughly as follows.

“Yo,” said Maxon.

“Yo,” said Payne.

“We’re doing ‘5.7’ next,” said Maxon. It was typical for Maxon to call Payne and tell him what music videos he wanted to make next.

“Zay’s got a snippet idea, it’s really cool,” Maxon continued.

“OK cool, what do you need? What do I have to buy? What are we doing?”

Maxon told Payne that he couldn’t fully explain everything yet. Zay was at an Orlando Magic game and Maxon wanted to wait until he was home so they could all talk about it. Maxon and Payne planned to get on a phone call the next day.

“Alright, fire,” said Payne.

“Let’s do “5.7,’ let’s do ‘Remember Me.’”

“Bet.”

On the 15th, Payne had to reschedule the call, “I was in Miami at the time with some of my friends from college and I just ended up being busy,” he says.

“Like I just rescheduled the call, which is, like, normal, you know? I was talking to him every day for 18 months, like regular shit.

I didn't think anything of it and, like, went out with my friends and I woke up the next afternoon. And yeah.”

Across the country in Wisconsin, Solomon got out of the shower to see he had several missed calls. He immediately knew something was wrong.

Goodbye

On the night of November 15th, Zay went into Maxon’s room and something was obviously bothering the artist. Zay tried to lighten up the mood but Maxon went to go sit outside and smoke. 

At the beginning of the week, the two went to Dave and Buster’s with a few friends. Right before they went out, Zay had a conversation with Maxon about how he was worried about him. He knew Maxon was not in a good headspace and wanted to talk through it.

“I just gave as many wise words as I could,” says Zay.

“And, you know, honestly, it was a really good conversation. I felt good. It made me feel good at the end of the day.”

The two went to Dave and Buster’s and had a great time.

Tonight, Zay asked Maxon again if everything was okay. Maxon replied that he was just stressed out. When Zay tried to talk more about it, Maxon gave him a look that they both understood meant “not right now.”

Zay sat outside with Maxon for a while before going to sleep around 4 a.m. 

The next day, Zay woke up late around 2:10 p.m. 

Mason Reyes, the boy who became Maxon Margiela, passed away just a few minutes later on Sunday, November 16, 2025. He was 21-years-old.

“... My last interactions with him were very regular. They weren't supposed to be the last, you know what I mean?” says Eli.

“It came really [from] left field to me when all this happened because it was the polar opposite of what we were talking about inside of the room that day,” says Kim.

“... It was really defeating and destabilizing and heartbreaking, just like ‘Damn like, I thought I did everything I could and it wasn't enough,’ says Payne.

“It felt like we all grew up 20 years in 24 hours,” says Solomon.

In regards to the claims online that Maxon was hospitalized a week before his death due to a suicide attempt, Zay says those are “fucking false.” 

He is well aware of the romanticism depression and mental illness holds within music culture, but he does not want Maxon to be remembered that way.

“It's easy to shine [a light] on the negative shit rather than the positive,” he says. “It's easier to magnify the shit that isn't going good other than the shit that is going good … It's like, as an artist, y'all gotta see the bigger picture of everything.”

Zay

On “Rainbows After Rain,” Zay always had the final say of what did and did not make it onto the album.

Zay was Maxon’s best friend since middle school, co-manager, roommate and the person who knew Maxon’s personality and vision better than anyone. 

“Everybody in the whole process knew that I was the one who understood Mason the most,” says Zay. “So, everybody kind of trusted my word. If I liked something, if I didn’t like something, that was it.” It just seemed like the natural order of things.

“He gave me the ball to just finish it off and put this shit together and do it. He knew that I would be able to do it the way he wanted to. And I know how he wanted it to be done.” 

The result is a project Zay is proud of and one he knows would make Maxon proud too. “Once the tracklist was figured out, it was like, alright, this is it. We just have to fix the mixing. Then we fixed the mixing and it was like... Yeah, this is it. There’s nothing I would change about this at all.”

Zay wants people to understand that this album is not a tragedy, but a raw documentation of Maxon. “It feels more like a diary. When you listen to the lyrics, it feels like he’s just telling them exactly what he’s feeling in a cool ass way.”

However, the album also has its fun moments that fans have come to expect from Maxon’s music.

“He used to have songs of him just talking about girls and fuckin’ drugs.” says Zay. “But that's also a part of it. It’s still a part of the story. He wasn’t just fucked up mentally. He was also lit.” 

Long Live #Healthykid

Before a Miami concert in February 2025, Maxon was ranting to Payne that he couldn’t pull up to the show “looking like a bum.”

The two of them split the cost on a Bentley rental and with a car full of girls, Maxon drove over 120mph, weaving in and out of traffic to get to the show.

The whole team sees “Rainbows After Rain” as their way of helping Maxon be seen as the star he always was.

“We have an angel on our side, we're gonna get it right for him,” says Payne.

The often heaviness of life, combined with the excitement that comes with being Maxon Margiela, is exactly what made him who he was and that's what this album aims to preserve. 

In Maxon’s 2025 interview with Sadprt, when talking about the future of his career, he said, “I'm not trying to be comfortable, I'm trying to be risky and take the chance. A lot to expect from me.”

“Rainbows After Rain,” the posthumous album from artist Maxon Margiela, releases November 16, 2026.