Rapper Lil Tjay was busted in The Bronx on Monday after detectives found loaded guns inside the Cadillac Escalade he was riding in, according to police.
According to authorities and sources, the 21-year-old musician, whose actual name is Tione Jayden Merritt, was in the SUV with four companions when cops pulled them over for tinted windows and a missing front license plate.
Police confiscated four weapons during a traffic check near 183rd Street and Ryer Avenue around 4 p.m.
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Lil Tjay Got Shot Recently
After getting shot in June 2022, Lil Tjay played earlier this month at The Wellmont Theater in New Jersey.
He even shared some photos from the event. In one of the images, he was shirtless, and the bullet wounds were obvious.
He had previously performed at another event following his recovery in September 2022, stating that he was feeling better and blessed at the time. He even thanked everyone who came to the ceremony.
Last year, Tjay and his companion Antoine Boyd were both shot. Mohamed Konate was later identified as the perpetrator, and he was charged with murder, robbery, and many weapons charges.
Konate approached Tjay’s vehicle and threatened him and his pals with a gun, according to one of the victims. During the event, Tjay was gravely hurt. He was admitted to Hackensack University Medical Center and had surgery.
Tjay’s status was reported to be stable by various sources, and he later released an update claiming that he would soon return on stage.
Lil Tjay: Biography
Tione Merritt, better known by his stage moniker ‘Lil TJAY,’ is an American hip hop artist/rapper. TJAY grew raised in New York, not far from the cradle of hip hop.
His knowledge of the genre’s history, on the other hand, is limited. TJAY had a difficult upbringing, spending much of his time getting into mischief and fighting with other boys.
He also engaged in small robberies. In 2016, he was sentenced to a year in a New York youth prison center for robbery. TJAY began visiting recording studios after his debut in 2017.
He’d already composed a couple of tunes on his own instruments. He recorded ‘Resume’ on his first visit to the studio.
It received favorable feedback, resulting in the publication of further tunes and a record deal with Columbia Records. TJAY released his debut extended play, ‘No Comparison,’ in December 2018.
TJAY is currently working on his first studio album, according to a Pitchfork interview.
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Lil Tjay: Early Life
The Bronx rapper claims he was imprisoned for “a little over a year” on a robbery allegation. While incarcerated, he worked on the fundamentals of his rapping career. “It wasn’t fun,” he admitted.
“It’s not something I’d do again, but I learnt a lot from it. I believe that if I hadn’t gone to jail, I would not be the person I am now. Because I would not have sat down and written those songs, and I would not have been able to focus on what I wanted to achieve. So it’s almost as if that was a positive thing for me. It forced me to open my eyes and do other things.”
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Lil Tjay: Rise To Stardom
Tjay was granted his freedom in late 2017 after serving a year in juvenile jail. When he was released, he released “Resume,” which he recorded the first time he was in a studio.
Tjay had no social media presence when he posted the song on SoundCloud. His only social media channel was Facebook.
According to his estimates, the song garnered 5,000 plays on the second day of its release. Soon after, it went viral, along with a homemade video of Tjay smoking and hanging around in a small, simple, white-walled flat.
Tjay detailed how the single became an overnight success story in an interview with Rolling Stone last January. “I just uploaded the link and made sure all my buddies posted it,” he explained.
“Everybody heard the song before it dropped and they was like, ‘Yo, you should drop this.’ Then I simply dropped it. Everyone I knew shared it at one point, and then I guess other people from different areas started reposting it and actually listening to it, and it went insane.”
Lil Tjay: Career Details
- Lil Tjay began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2017, including the tunes “Resume” and “Brothers”.
- “Resume” was published while Tjay was still 16 years old, and it was accompanied by a homemade video of Tjay hanging out in a modest Bronx apartment (Slattery Avenue), which quickly went viral online.
- Tjay competed and won the Coast 2 Coast LIVE NYC All Ages Edition on March 10, 2018, where his performance drew the attention of a record label A&R who was in attendance to judge the showcase.
- Columbia Records signed him after hearing his song “Brothers,” which had millions of streams on SoundCloud. Tjay raps about death, depression, and incarceration on it.
- Within the first ten months of Lil Tjay’s music career, he released five songs that received over a million SoundCloud plays.
- In just over a year, “Resume” received 14 million views. On SoundCloud, “Brothers” has received 44.4 million plays. Other significant hits include “Goat,” which has had 19.4 million SoundCloud listens, and “Leaked,” which has received 16.8 million.
- Lil Tjay collaborated with Cash Money AP to release “None of Your Love” in July 2018, which gathered 18.2 million plays in eight months. Cash Money AP has worked with rappers such as Lil Skies, Ty Dolla Sign, and YoungBoy Never Broke Again to create music.
- We have a special offer for you. When the artist released “Leaked” in September 2018, it received over 600,000 plays on SoundCloud in less than a week.
- Lil Tjay’s debut EP No Comparison was released at the end of 2018. The EP has one feature, YNW Melly, a 20-year-old rapper from Gifford, Florida who rose to prominence around the same time as Lil Tjay.
- Their most popular song from the EP, “Ready for War,” has had over four million plays on SoundCloud.
- On October 11, 2019, Lil Tjay released his debut album True 2 Myself. Many of his old SoundCloud tracks are included, as well as new ones with appearances from well-known rappers such as Lil Baby and Lil Wayne.
- It reached at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and includes his first solo charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 titled “F.N”.
- Lil Tjay got another hit with his song “20/20″ in early 2020. Lil Tjay released the EP State of Emergency on May 8, 2020, in which he turns his passionate sound into aggressive drill”.
- The EP contains seven songs, including the fan-favorite “Zoo York,” which features Fivio Foreign and late rapper Pop Smoke.
Lil Tjay: Parents
Tjay first opened his eyes on April 30, 2001, in New York, USA. He lived his entire childhood with two siblings. All three children were reared by a single mother in a one-room Bronx apartment.
They didn’t have an easy start in life. The impoverished mother had to labor all hours of the day and night to provide for her three children. Tjay’s father was not present when he arrived in this world.
He saw his mum going from hand to mouth. That’s why he’s always sought to support his family. He opted to go into the professional music industry.
He witnessed other rappers make a lot of money from their music careers. That’s why he decided to make a name for himself in the American rap scene. He caused his mother a lot of grief during his childhood.
Tjay was involved in multiple assaults at school as a young child. He was also exposed to illicit activity and street criminality.
He was detained in a New York City detention center for nearly a year as a result of his illegal activities. While incarcerated, he began to write musical lyrics. After being fed up from illicit life, he resolved to live a quiet life.
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Lil Tjay: Net Worth 2023
He quickly rose to prominence in his community as a professional rapper. Most people refer to him as the Justin Bieber of (Bronx) New York.
Many popular singles were recorded and released by him, including Goat, Ride for You, Brothers, Pa$to, Ruthless, Go In, Laneswitch, Hold on, 20/20, and Leaked.
The majority of the songs reached the top of the Billboard charts in the United States.
He also received excellent feedback from other important regions, including New Zealand, Canada, and the Netherlands. The 19-year-old rapper has a $1 million net worth. Critics predict that he will become wealthier in the following years.
FAQs
Lil Tjay is an Rapper, Singer, Songwriter.
Lil Tjay is 21.
Lil Tjay: Personal Information
| Name | Lil Tjay |
| Real Name | Tione Jayden Merritt |
| Date of Birth | 30 April 2001 |
| Age | 21 |
| Birthplace | South Bronx, New York City, U. S. |
| Height | 1.70 m |
| Weight | 63 |
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