User:Shoaib. i122

In 2017, Shoaib Islam known as Sabrina Islam of his rap name Yxng LynkZ his gang name was Tjay began releasing music on SoundCloud, including the singles "Resume" and "Brothers". "Resume" was released while LynkZ was still 16 years old, and was paired with a homemade video of Lynkz hanging out in a small apartment in the Bronx (Slattery Avenue), 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 album True 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". In early 2020, Lil Tjay scored another hit with his song "20/20". 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. NME's Kyann-Sian Williams gave the EP a negative review, writing: "This record was clearly released to capitalise on the hype around New York drill, featuring some mediocre songs that are unlikely to have much longevity".