Lil Tjay

Tione Jayden Merritt (born April 30, 2001), known professionally as Lil Tjay, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Merritt's childhood friend, Smelly, was fatally stabbed in August 2016.

Merritt pays tribute to his childhood friend in a number of his songs; referencing his name, "Smelly".

In 2016, Merritt began releasing music on SoundCloud.

"Resume", one of his first songs, was released when Merritt was 16 years old, and quickly began spreading online.

He rose to prominence in 2017 with the song "Resume", and then the release of his breakthrough song "Brothers" which led to a record deal with Columbia Records, also in 2017.

On March 10, 2018, Merritt competed and placed first at the NYC All Ages Edition of Coast 2 Coast LIVE, where his performance gained the attention of a record label A&R who was in attendance to judge the showcase.

Soon after, Merritt released the single "Brothers", which became his biggest song at the time and led to him signing with Columbia Records.

Released on YouTube in 2018, Merritt earned himself recognition through his sampling of Justin Bieber's "Baby" on his single, "None of Your Love".

Within the first ten months of Merritt's music career, he had released five tracks that recorded over one million plays on SoundCloud.

"Brothers", "Resume", "Goat", and "Leaked" each accumulated tens of millions of streams.

In July 2018, Merritt worked with producer CashMoneyAP to release "None of Your Love", which also amassed tens of millions of plays.

Merritt released his debut EP No Comparison at the end of 2018.

His debut studio album, True 2 Myself, was released in 2019 and debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, marking the album his first charting project.

The following year, he released the mixtape State of Emergency, that featured only drill artists from New York City.

His second studio album, Destined 2 Win, was released in 2021 and included the single "Calling My Phone" (with 6lack); his highest-charting song to date.

In 2023, that, released the song "Gangsta Boo" with fellow New York artist Ice Spice, and released his third studio album, 222, in July of that year.

Merritt was born and raised in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City.

He was raised by a single mother and has two younger siblings in what was described as a "roomy" apartment.

He is of Ghanaian and Jamaican descent.

Merritt called himself the problematic child of the three children, as he would often get himself into petty robberies and school fights.

At the age of 15, Merritt was arrested for a robbery, and sentenced to a year at the youth detention center, where he would begin to write raps; they included one of his hit songs "Resume", which he released on SoundCloud.

In January 2019, Merritt was featured on fellow rapper Polo G's single "Pop Out", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In July, he was featured on boy band PrettyMuch's "Lying".

Later that year, he released an EP titled F.N; the project's lead single, "F.N", peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became his first solo charting song.

Merritt released his debut album True 2 Myself on October 11, 2019.

It debuted and peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard 200.

In December, he was featured on a remix of 24kGoldn's song "Valentino".

In early 2020, Merritt reached the Billboard Hot 100 again with his single "20/20", which peaked at number 94 on the chart.

On May 8, 2020, Merritt released the EP State of Emergency, which focused heavily on drill music, a popular subgenre in New York City.

The seven-song EP included the track "Zoo York" (featuring Fivio Foreign and Pop Smoke), which peaked at number 65 on the Hot 100.

In July, Merritt appeared on Pop Smoke's debut posthumous album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, on the track "Mood Swings", which reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On August 11, Merritt was included on XXL 's 2020 Freshman Class.

In October, Merritt hinted at a new project on Twitter.

On February 12, 2021, Merritt released his single "Calling My Phone", a collaboration with Atlanta singer 6lack, which was accompanied by a music video directed by Cam Busby.

The song debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest-charting single of Merritt's career.

On March 19, Merritt released "Headshot", a collaboration with Polo G and Fivio Foreign as the second single from his second studio album, Destined 2 Win, which was released on April 2, 2021.

The album consists of twenty-one tracks.

On October 22, Merritt released the lead single to his upcoming third studio album "Not in the Mood" (featuring Fivio Foreign and Kay Flock).

The single was teased in snippets using TikTok from September prior to its release.