| Real Name: | Tione Jayden Merritt |
| Birthday: | November 12, 1970 |
| Net Worth: | $1 million |
| Height: | 178 cm |
| Occupation: | Rapper |
Lil Tjay is the stage name for Tione Jayden Merritt. He is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Tjay was born in the Bronx in 2001. He started his musical career in 2017 when he was just 16 years old. Thanks to two overnight success tracks like Brothers and Resume, he got millions of fans and followers. With million subscribers and followers, how much is Lil Tjay net worth?
Tjay has more than 200,000 subscribers on his SoundCloud account and more than 50 million views on his YouTube account. Lil is also big on Instagram, where he has more than 1.2 million followers. With earnings of between $50,000 and $100,000 per month in 2020, Lil Tjay net worth is close to $1 million.
Career Ups and Downs
Tione spent his childhood in the Bronx. At the time, he listened to rap artists and started gaining interest in a music career. He released his first singles on SoundCloud. Resume and Brothers went viral on SoundCloud. The overwhelming popularity led to a collaboration with Polo G. Lil Tjay joined him on the number one hit Pop Out.
With a few hit songs in his portfolio, Lil continued his dream of making it big in the hip hop world. In 2018, he competed and placed first at the Coast 2 Coast LIVE NYC All Ages Edition. He earned recognition with his performance from the A&R record label. But he signed with Columbia Records thanks to his Brothers song. This hit accumulated millions of streams on SoundCloud.
Within the first 10 months of his career, he released five tracks. All recorded more than million plays on SoundCloud. Brothers amassed 44 million plays.
With experience in the hip hop genre, Tjay proved there are no limits to his musical talent. The rising star performed with Lil Wayne, Polo G, Lil Durk, Jay Critch, and others.
In July 2018, Lil started a collaboration with producer Cash Money. They released None of Your Love, a single amassing 18 million plays in the first eight months.
The young rapper released his debut album True 2 Myself on October 11, 2019. The album contained many of the original SoundCloud songs, but also features with Lil Wayne and Lil Baby. His album peaked at Number 5 on the Billboard 200.
In early 2020, Tjay released his EP State of Emergency. There, he channeled his emotive sound into an abrasive drill. There are seven songs on the EP, including the fan-favorite Zoo York.
Musical Style
Growing up in the Bronx played a huge role in Lil Tjay’s life. You can notice the impact in any of his songs. He sings in English but often puts some Spanish words in there. He doesn’t speak Spanish fluently.
Lil Tjay uses half-sung verses and hooks smoothed by Auto-Tune. If you ask him, Lil will tell you Drake and Meek Mill influenced his style. And he describes his music as adding a melodic sound when singing or rapping about his past struggles.
Tjay also credits his time in prison where he used the time to improve his ability to write songs. Some critics describe him as hip-hop heartthrob. Others call him the Bronx Justin Bieber. Lil Tjay sampled Bieber’s Baby.
Net Worth
Lil Tjay earns money through his social media and SoundCloud accounts, but also from tours and live performances. In 2019, he went on a tour with Seattle rapper Lil Mosey. He also performed at the three-day Rolling Loud Miami music festival.
Lil has more than 220,000 subscribers to his SoundCloud account and 1.2 million followers on Instagram. His YouTube channel amassed more than 50 million views.
His earnings went up dramatically in the past year. In 2018, Tjay earned between $1,000 and $1,500 per month. At the beginning of 2020, he earned between $50,000 and $70,000 per month.
Personal Life
Born in 2001 in New York as Tione Jayden Merritt, Tjay spent his childhood with two siblings. Their mom raised them as a single mother. Living in a one-room apartment in the Bronx was hard. Life was not easy for Lil. That is the reason he wants to provide for his family.
When he saw rappers earning a hefty amount from singing careers, Tjay decided to start a music career. As a kid, he experienced street crime first hand. He even spent a year in a detention center. After getting out, he got fed up with criminal life. At this point, he put all his focus on a musical career and a peaceful life.
There were rumors about him dating a few women in the past. But he doesn’t say anything about his private life. Lil Tjay is a slightly shy person. In one interview, he said he wants a woman living in his neighborhood. Tione also said he doesn’t plan to get married soon.
