Lil Tjay is an an American rapper and singer. He rose to prominence in 2018 with his song "Resume", and signed to Columbia Records later that year.


But before he became famous, before Lil Tjay would have over 190,000 followers on Twitter, 3.9 million followers on Instagram, and nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube, before Lil Tjay would release this highest charting song ever, a feature with pop smoke titled mood swings, he was just like any other kid with the hopes of making it big.

Lil Tjay transformed from spending his days in a juvenile correctional facility to one of the biggest rappers of 2020 in a little more than two years. "Leaked" and "Brothers" were his first two platinum-certified singles after signing with Columbia Records in 2018, but it was fn's double platinum status and the enormous success of his collaboration with polo g's "pop out" that really cemented Lil Tjay's place in the public eye.


Tjay has a strong drive, which should be apparent from his copious production; this must have been a major factor in his selection to XXL's freshmen class of 2020.

First of all, despite the fact that he is still relatively unknown despite all of his achievements, Tjay has always had the goal of becoming a world-famous celebrity. He is now prepared to take another step.

Below is an account of Lil Tjay's life before he became famous.


In the south bronx of New York City, on April 30, 2001, Tione Jayden Merritt well known as Lil Tjay, was born to a married couple.


He is from the area of 183rd Street and Ryre Avenue, which is on same block as a bodega, a barbershop, a restaurant serving Chinese food, and a kingdom hall for JWs.

Tjay spent his formative years getting into fights in this area and doing small-time thefts, which led to his placement in a juvenile jail facility by the age of just 15. Anyone who grew up in the streets or has ever participated in street activities is aware that the first rule is: if you get caught, don't tell us. Because you lived that life, it is now your responsibility because that is what you agreed to.

To put it another way, it means that Tjay spent a little over a year in prison on robbery-related charges but used that time to hone his rapping skills. He said to rolling stone that though he doesn't enjoy spending time in jail, he had learned a lot from it and that he probably wouldn't be where he is now if it weren't for the time he spent there creating songs and concentrating on his music.

Tjay was always aware of his potential for greatness as a child. Since he was a little child, music had always been a part of his life. He grew up listening to his mother's playlist, which included songs by musicians like Michael Jackson and Usher, as the oldest of three kids. Later in life, he found singers like Chris Brown, Drake, and even Justin Bieber who were more in accordance with his own sense of style.


He admitted to pitchfork that he used to only watch Justin Bieber videos and had a lifelong desire to emulate the pop star. Given those circumstances, Tjay's childhood ambition was to become a vocalist rather than a rapper, but fate had other ideas for him. By the time he was seven, he had already started creating rhymes with the assistance of his mother and was well aware of the importance of practice in life.

Tjay was already working the streets and selling pot and lean at the age of 13 but growing up in the Bronx wasn't easy.

When he was in grade 9, he stopped going to school. After that, he spent a year in Queen's Juvenile Detention Center, where he worked hard to fulfill his dreams by writing song after song.

Tjay was now motivated not only by being imprisoned but also by the death of his friend Smelly just moments earlier. Now, smelly was a big part of the reason Tjay even considered becoming a rapper in the first place. The two of them grew up together. Tjay became aware that he needed to stop doing street things and work to improve after experiencing smelly dying.

"Resume" was one of the songs that Tjay created at the time and posted on Soundcloud in 2017. He blew up practically quickly after coming out. He was hardly at all active on social media. The sole medium he utilized was Facebook, although he estimated that "resume" had had 5,000 listens by the second day after its publication.


Soon later, a home-made film of tjay smoking and hanging around in a tiny plane apartment became a viral smash. Although the song was the first piece of music he had ever recorded in a studio, columbia records noticed him right away since the tune was so well-produced.

On the Chicago rapper's debut hit, "pop out," which would go on to peak at number 11 on the Hot 100 and into the top 10 of Billboard's Hot R&B Hip-Hop Song Chart, Tjay teamed up with Colombia's other rising talent, polo g.


In October of 2019, Lil Tjay released his first studio album, "true to myself." Now, it features a number of his Soundcloud songs as well as fresh music with artists like Lil Baby and Lil Wayne, completing the incredibly rare and sought-after Lil trifecta.

He has now published the seven-song EP "State of emergency," and he has been on Popsmoke's latest album, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon.