Lil Jay is a Chicago drill legend.
Before getting locked up on a murder charge he was one of the most feared rappers in Chicago.
He’s one of the last survivors of the war in Chiraq,
and now almost a decade later he’s back on the streets and ready to take over again.
This is what’s going down with the Chiraq Wolverine: King Lil Jay.
Jay grew up in Chicago in a neighborhood run by the Black Disciples.
He claimed BD early on,
but ended up switching to an Insane GD after he moved to a different hood and linked up with FBG Duck.
According to Edai from 600, Jay wanted to link up with them because he was still with the BDs.
600 is a Black Disciple set that’s allied with O’Block,
and at the time Lil Jay was cool with dudes from Jaro City.
Jaro City used to be close with O’Block and 600,
but they started beefing later on.
Lil Jay ended up getting turned away from 600,
so he linked up with Jaro City instead.
That’s when he started hanging out with dudes from STL/EBT and became close with FBG Duck.
They were so close that when Jay became homeless, he slept on the floor in Duck’s mom’s house.
Back in 2012, the drill scene was just starting to pop off and Chief Keef was at the top of the game.
His track I Don’t Like was remixed by Kanye, which helped push the Chicago drill sound into the mainstream.
Keef is from O’Block, so Jay and Duck went after him on a song called Critical.
Duck took a shot at Keef with the line
“How the **** you a Chief? You ain’t puttin’ in no work?”
Jay and Duck also went after Edai on the track Who The **** is Dude.
Even though at one point Jay wanted to join 600, by this time they had problems.
Jay went after him with lines like
“Edai, you don’t want the beef, who the fuck is dude?
Sneak dissin’ on the tweets but if he only knew
My ****** trained to blow, yeah, we keep them tools
Who the **** is Edai? He ain’t really in that field
Man, all that shit he rap about, man, that’s not for real.”
Lil Jay had beef all over the city and eventually it caught up to him.
One day the opps caught him lacking and shot him nine times in the legs and neck.
He survived the attack and made a full recovery, but being given a second chance still ain’t teach him a lesson.
Jay went right back to the streets and got hit again.
The second shooting left him with six more bullet holes in his leg and bladder.
After two close calls with death, he made it out alive and bounced back.
DJ Akademiks even nicknamed him “The Chiraq Wolverine”.
Around this time, Jay started hanging out with Lil Jojo and other dudes from an insane GD set called Bricksquad.
Jaro City and STL/EBT were beefing, which left Jay in a bad position.
He repped Jaro City, but Duck was his homie too.
Then Lil Jojo was allegedly killed by the BDs, and Lil Jay started claiming BDK.
The beef between Jaro City and STL/EBT eventually got squashed,
but then STL/EBT went after Bricksquad.
This put Jay in another tough spot,
and then something went down that caused him to split with FBG for good.
According to Duck, Lil Jay was stealing from the crew.
He allegedly stole some cash from Duck and a chain from an FBG affiliate named King Yella,
so Duck let some other members of the gang rough Jay up.
Stealing from your own gang can get you killed, but Jay got off with just a beating.
After he got kicked out by Duck,
Jay split off and started his own crew with FBG Butta called We The Opps.
Jay and Butta had been tight for years at this point,
and it’s also rumored that Jay was with Butta and his twin sister K.I. when they took out Odee Perry.
When Butta and Jay started We The Opps,
the first dude they recruited was a Blood member from out of town named Troub -
What happened next would land Lil Jay in prison for seven years and turn his best friend into his worst enemy.
One night, Jay, Butta, and Troub went to buy weed from a dude named J Da Kidd.
It ain’t clear exactly what went down, but an argument broke out and the WTO crew left.
Instead of just finding a new plug to buy from,
they went to Troub’s girlfriend’s crib and picked up some guns.
The three of them went back to J Da Kidd’s place, where they ended up getting into a shootout.
Troub and J Da Kidd both got hit, Troub later died from his injuries
while J recovered in the hospital.
J Da Kidd got off on self defense,
but Lil Jay and Butta were both charged with murder.
Even though they wasn’t the ones who shot him,
the police determined that they were the reason Troub was involved in the altercation.
Jay had made all kinds of enemies in Chicago over the years,
and going to jail meant he was surrounded by his opps.
He got into fights all the time and was really going through it, but things was about to get even worse.
First of all, his homies on the outside turned on him.
Even though he wasn’t rocking with Duck and the other FBG dudes like before,
he still expected them to call and check in or put some money on his books.
At one point, him and Duck was real close, but when Jay went inside, Duck cut him off.
The situation was already bad, but the worst was still to come.
Butta and Jay were supposed to be holding it down together,
but then Jay leaked photos of Butta signing paperwork in an interrogation room.
Butta denied ever signing anything, but he did get out of prison early -
which supported the rumors.
He’s always denied the claim, but even a false rumor about snitching can hurt your rep.
Butta cut ties with Lil Jay and the two of them have been beefing ever since.
Jay actually beat the murder charge for Troub’s death, but then he got sentenced to 14 years
for conspiracy to commit murder and intent to kill and injure for trying to chip J Da Kidd.
Nobody wants to get locked up, but Jay seemed to be using the most of his time inside.
He squashed some beef with opps,
and eventually patched things up with FBG Duck too before he was tragically shot and killed in their hometown.
Lil Jay was locked up for over seven years,
and a lot has changed in that time.
When he went in, the drill wave was just starting to pop off
but now it’s everywhere.
What started in Chicago spread all over the country,
and now almost every major city has their own drill scene.
Jay was there when it all started, but a lot of people had moved on while he was away.
Jay seemed like he’d chilled out in prison and wasn’t going to hop out and start taking shots on wax.
Plus, hip hop moves fast, and coming back to it after a seven-year break ain’t really a recipe for success.
Most fans thought that going away for that long would kill his career for good,
but once again the Chiraq Wolverine bounced back and proved everyone wrong.
One week after he got released, Jay dropped the track First Day Clout and announced to everyone that he was back and here to stay.
In just a couple weeks it’s already racked up over two million views on YouTube,
proving that fans were still interested in hearing his music.
He starts off the track with “The last n***a disrespected Tooka ass got smoked
I put a 64 in two backwoods, you know it’s Von what I blow
I can’t go out like T. Roy, I won’t die in no sto’.”
Then later in the track he takes shots at FBG Butta for snitching on him and his mom with the lines
“They said I flipped, how that sound?
Shorty snitched and moved outta town
Here go that black and white, gave statement and plea agreements
That **** n***a told, I had to fight for my life
He put the case on my momma, on Duck, I wouldn’t lie.”
Lil Jay did an interview with Say Cheese TV after he got out and revealed his mom was sentenced to three years in prison
for intimidating a witness - which he claims is FBG Butta.
Butta still denies ever cooperating with the police,
but Jay says he has the paperwork to prove it.
Butta responded with a diss track a couple of weeks later where he accused Jay of being a snitch,
but Jay’s First Day Clout track has 30 times more views right now.
After he dropped the diss track, Butta did an interview with Cam Capone news to tell his side of the story.
According to him, the paperwork that Jay has ain’t even real.
That paper work, that **** fake man, no bro.
Look that **** up.
Our-our case files are sealed.
He also claims Jay only leaked the photo of him in the interrogation room
to distract everyone from rumors circling around that Jay is gay.
Butta also asked how could he tell on Jay if he ain’t even do anything.
Troub is the one who shot J Da Kidd, so Butta says there’s nothing he could even tell the cops about.
It’s hard to say what really went down back then,
but no matter what actually happened - it turned Butta and Jay into opps for life.
FBG Butta ain’t the only opp that Jay still has beef with.
Right now Lil Durk is one of the biggest rappers in the game,
but he and Jay been at each other’s throats for over a decade -
and it don’t seem like that’s gonna change any time soon.
After Jay was released, Durk hopped on Instagram and implied that Jay snitched to get out early.
He wrote “Send me that shit of dude from the raq telling so I can post it [crying laughing emojis] hurry up.”
The beef between them goes all the way back to 2012,
when Durk dropped the track L’s Anthem and rapped
“Bricksquad, I say **** ‘em // Wuga World wit’ ‘em so **** ‘em.”
Jay was tight with dudes like Lil JoJo from Bricksquad, so he took the diss personally.
Over the next few years, they sent shots back and forth in songs and on social media,
and at one point Jay challenged Durk to a boxing match - but he got locked up before they could throw hands.
Jay squashed some beefs while he was locked up,
but Durk is still a major target for him.
He addressed the snitching accusations on First Day Clout,
then took shots at Durk’s dead brother D’Thang and his homie King Von.
He doubled down a few days later on the track #Facts, dissing D’Thang and Von again
and calling out Durk for not getting back.
Jay rapped “Hop up out the bushes like D’Thang when he got whacked
Lil Von was loafin’ outta town, and he caught one to the chest
These n***as be talkin’ that gangsta shit, where was you at when your mans got hit in his ****?
The real question is ‘what you gonna do about it?’
You gon’ stay outta town and hide like a *****.”
Jay don’t have any love for Durk, but in the interview with Say Cheese he gave props to his success and said
“He was the man, he was. I salute him though.
It is what it is.
I’m the face of this **** though.”
Taking the crown from Durk won’t be easy,
but Jay’s already off to a good start.
After First Day Clout, he dropped Bars of Clout 3 which has over a million views on YouTube.
Then he followed that up with the tracks #Facts and Squad.
If he can stay out the streets and focus on his music,
Lil Jay could reach the top of the industry.
No one expected him to come out and put up the numbers he’s doing right now,
but he’s proving that the time in prison only made him hungrier.
If he don’t get caught up in any street activities, there’s no telling how far he can take it.