Tione Jayden Merritt, known professionally as Lil Tjay, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter who is signed to Columbia Records. Born and raised in the Bronx, his musical career began in 2017. Lil Tjay is best known for his songs "F.N" and "Brothers", as well as his collaboration with Polo G, "Pop Out", which peaked at 11 on the BillboardHot 100. His debut studio album, True 2 Myself, peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard 200.
Career
2017–2019: Mainstream debut and ''True 2 Myself''
In 2017, Lil Tjay began releasing music on SoundCloud, including the singles "Resume" and "Brothers". "Resume" was released while Tjay was still 16 years old, and was paired with a homemade video of Tjay hanging out in a small apartment in the Bronx, which soon began to spread online. On March 10, 2018, Tjay competed and placed first at the Coast 2 Coast LIVE NYC All Ages Edition, where his performance gained the attention of a record label A&R who was in attendance to judge the showcase. He signed with Columbia Records after they noticed his song "Brothers", which had amassed millions of streams on SoundCloud. On it, Tjay raps about death, dejection, and incarceration. Within the first ten months of Lil Tjay's music career, he had released five tracks that recorded over a million plays on SoundCloud. "Resume" gained 14 million views in just over a year. "Brothers" has accumulated 44.4 million plays on SoundCloud. Other notable singles include "Goat", which has 19.4 million plays on SoundCloud, and "Leaked", which has 16.8 million plays. In July 2018, Lil Tjay worked with producer Cash Money AP to release "None of Your Love", which amassed 18.2 million plays in eight months. Cash Money AP has produced tracks for rappers such as Lil Skies, Ty Dolla Sign, and YoungBoy Never Broke Again. In January 2019, Lil Tjay was featured on a single with Polo G titled "Pop Out", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. When the artist released "Leaked" in September 2018, the song gained over 600,000 plays in less than a week on SoundCloud. Lil Tjay released his debut EP No Comparison at the end of 2018. The EP contains one feature who is YNW Melly, the 20-year-old rapper from Gifford, Florida who began gaining buzz around the same time as Lil Tjay. Their song "Ready for War" was the most successful from the EP and has over four million plays on SoundCloud. Lil Tjay released his debut albumTrue 2 Myself on October 11, 2019. It includes many of his original SoundCloud songs, as well as new ones with features from well-known rappers as Lil Baby and Lil Wayne. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and included his first solo charting song on the Billboard Hot 100 titled "F.N".
2020: ''State of Emergency''
In early 2020, Lil Tjay reached the Billboard Hot 100 with his single "20/20", which peaked at number 94. On May 8, 2020, Lil Tjay released the EP State of Emergency, on which he "channels his emotive sound into abrasive drill". The seven-song EP includes the fan-favorite track, "Zoo York", featuring Fivio Foreign and late rapper Pop Smoke, which peaked at 65 on the Hot 100. In July 2020, Lil Tjay appeared on Pop Smoke's debut posthumous album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, on the track "Mood Swings", which reached number 44 on the Hot 100.
Artistry
Influenced by his upbringing in the Bronx, Lil Tjay sings in English and incorporates Spanish although he does not speak the latter fluently. His verses are half-sung and his songs feature "hooks smoothed by Auto-Tune". He has drawn comparisons to fellow New York rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said his musical influences are Drake and Meek Mill. In the same interview, Lil Tjay described his music as having a melodic sound when singing or rapping about his past struggles. Lil Tjay also credits his success to his year spent in prison, where he claims that his ability to write songs peaked. He has also worked with notable artists such as Tory Lanez and YNW Melly. In July 2018, Lil Tjay joined Jay Critch, a rapper from Brooklyn, New York signed to the Rich Forever Music label, in the studio and a snippet of their song, "Ruthless", was played on a joint Instagramlive stream. In Pitchfork's featured article on Lil Tjay, they refer to him as a "hip-hop heartthrob" and mention how Usher is one of his inspirations. Later in the interview, Lil Tjay explained that he is often called the "Bronx Justin Bieber" because of his sampling Justin Bieber's "Baby".
Live performances
Lil Tjay accompanied Seattle rapper Lil Mosey on his nationwide tour throughout 2019. He also has performed at the three-day Rolling Loud Miami music festival, along with Migos, Travis Scott, and Kid Cudi in Miami Gardens, Florida in May 2019 and at the Los Angeles festival in December.
