What up gang.
Back with the real you know what’s the deal. The streets are heartless. It will chew you up and spit you out then piss on your grave even after you’re gone. It’s a grimy life that few find their way out from. There is one who has been lucky, or call it blessed, to survive multiple attempts on his life, being shot 15 times, with 4 bullets still inside his body, but still lives against all odds. Death changes a person, gives them clarity, but is there really an out from the streets after being sworn in? Today we look at the Chiraq Savage, Lil Jay, his street affiliations, why FBG Duck cut ties with him, the opps assassination attempt and him switching sides to get out of the streets. Let’s break it down and chop it up.
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In Chicago, few say they had a choice. The majority of rappers with street affiliations say they became their environment. They just had to pick a side and the side became the area they lived on https://youtu.be/LkXkdbgy0DY (2:37-2:56) Lil Jay started out a BD and claims his hood to be St. Laurence https://youtu.be/an3ZVUQI-LA (2:05-2:10) which is right beside sworn opps WIIC City better known as O Block. I recently did a vid breaking down the war between the two. Link will be in the description, suggest you check it out.
Lil Jay has had a long history between sets in Chiraq. Lil Jay himself has rapped about various sets that would go to war for him https://youtu.be/an3ZVUQI-LA (2:21-2:35), one of the most important to Chicago’s gang legacy is Tookaville, which became the new name for STL/EBT after the notorious assassination of hood legend, Tooka at the now famous buss stop on the 600 block of East 63rd https://youtu.be/0W67FsnJKhE
Lil Jay would find his way to linking with one of Chiraq’s realest, FBG Duck through Duck’s homie FBG Kelz
https://youtu.be/zOJeLgB36ro (7:15-7:29) The two clicked and would kick it from then forward, even sleeping at Duck’s crib https://youtu.be/zOJeLgB36ro (7:54-8:00).
Lil Jay later talked about how close they were, even Duck’s mother taking him in when he was homeless and showing him genuine love https://youtu.be/Bh04heNpGUY (4:47-5:40)
This makes it even more sad with how their friendship ended, breaking the bond with people that stuck their neck out for him. Before events led to that point, Lil Jay was on his bully, becoming a known savage in the streets, even Duck vouched for how grimy Lil Jay was https://youtu.be/GEtxbzjtcf0 (0:40-0:50) His first rumored body that got him skin in the game, Pause, was Levonne of RMG
According to word on the street, around 2011 Lil Jay along with Lil B from STL/EBT
caught Levonne lacking and attempted to hit a lick but Leveonne wasn’t up for it and tried to dip. That’s when he was gunned down. Between Lil Jay and Lil B, the finger that pulled the trigger goes both ways depending on the source. Sadly, Lil B would be taken out by the cops in 2014 after he allegedly pulled out the strap and aimed it their way
Lil Jay would continue his partner in crime’s legacy by doing enough dirt to make up for Lil B no longer being able to ride. His beefs would begin piling up, going to war with 600, mainly 600 Breezy who wanted nothing more than to put Lil Jay in the grave
Lil Jay didn’t care. He was young and wildin. He would get into it with NLMB Lil Bibby,
claiming bibby ran when he saw him coming. The two went back and forth on twitter debating on the truth. Given Bibby’s credibility for being a silent savage, many leaned toward Bibby’s account of what happened, claiming he walked away to save Lil Jay’s life because the people he was with had beef with Lil Jay and would begin shooting if they knew Lil Jay was there
After the back and forth, things between him and Bibby seem to be squashed since they had no real beef before
This didn’t stop Lil Jay from being a menace to his other opps. Around 2012/2013 he would jump into the rap scene where he continued disrespecting his opps https://youtu.be/n7mjaPyYLi8 (3:27-3:31) He was influenced by his homies like Duck rapping and decided to step into the booth himself. His first song “Critical” which was the Chief Keef diss with Duck blew up https://youtu.be/n7mjaPyYLi8 (3:40-3:47) https://youtu.be/7dlnFcCFez8 From there he went crazy over beats coming for his opps with tracks like “Hang With Me (Everybody Diss)” https://youtu.be/an3ZVUQI-LA Lil Jay was making it known he was here and he was to be feared.
That type of energy in the streets almost always is reciprocated, and it sure was. Lil Jay would be shot not one time, not two times, not even three four or five times, but 15 times by his opps on two separate occasion, one time he got hit up with 9 shots, the other instance with 6 shots https://youtu.be/RLqLFzH0OHk (8:17-8:38) The first time bullets pierced his leg and even the back of his neck https://youtu.be/RLqLFzH0OHk (8:44-8:53) The second time, some places he were hit was his leg and bladder which resulted in him needing a tube to urinate while healing up https://youtu.be/RLqLFzH0OHk (9:16-9:33)
It’s a miracle that he even survived. DJ Akademiks would label Lil Jay the Chiraq Wolverine
Lil Jay’s life was going down a path of no return, and when lil Jo Jo, opp of OTF, Lamron, and GBE was gunned down
Lil Jay was pushed over the edge. He would turn full Insane GD which would prompt his rival 600 Breezy to switch from dissing Lil Jo Jo to Lil Jay and Insane GD’s
Things would begin to crumble behind closed doors. Lil Jay would fall out with FBG but it was only later in interviews that the real reason became known. Far before the public knew what was going on, Lil Jay was allegedly stealing from Duck after he let him sleep in his house https://youtu.be/zOJeLgB36ro (7:55-8:24) FBG would give his homies who’s things he stole the green light to give Lil Jay a beating as retribution https://youtu.be/zOJeLgB36ro (8:43-8:55) From there the connection further deteriorated. Lil Jay and FBG affiliate FBG Butta who was Gakirah’s right hand and was with Duck’s sis distanced themselves from FBG and started their own movement WTO (We The Opps) https://youtu.be/n7mjaPyYLi8 (4:53-5:03)
This set things up for the downfall of Lil Jay. He would connect with a homie who goes by the name Troub, who joined his WTO movement. Troub can be seen waving the strap in Lil Jay’s “Faneto Freestyle” music video https://youtu.be/VFhxcfkpnAc
Together, Lil Jay, Butta, and Troub ended up getting into an altercation that took one of their lives and cost the other two their freedom. On May 4th 2015 shots rang out in the 1600 block of Patricia Lane in the south suburb. The two parties involved were Lil Jay, Butta, and Troub, against J Da Kidd
Authorities say the shooting was due to a marijuana purchase gone bad. One thing led to the next and another led to the other, the next thing an argument popped off. Lil Jay n’em would spin the block, pick up some firearms from Toub’s girlfriend and return, hitting up J Da Kidd but not before he returned fire hitting up Troub https://youtu.be/0DaCTWvawIE (4:10-4:27) Troub whose real name is Filmon Rezene was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before 9 a.m. on the following Friday. J Da Kidd miraculously survived but not without permanent scars to show
Not only did Lil Jay have to deal with losing his mans, but because they went armed together and Troub ended up passing, he was arrested on a murder charge along with Butta. Lil Jay was held on $750,000 bond and Butta on $250,000 https://chicago.suntimes.com/2015/5/17/18354227/seattle-man-facing-attempted-murder-charge-for-calumet-city-shooting-dies
Messed up thing is that J Da Kidd and them were cool before, even popping up in their music videos https://youtu.be/0DaCTWvawIE (5:00-5:18) J Da Kidd would go on interview saying Lil Jay was banned from Chicago https://youtu.be/0DaCTWvawIE (5:47-6:00) but Lil Jay had way bigger problems ahead of him. Apart from fighting for his life with rivals behind bars https://youtu.be/CdIFZIbHZGI (2:00-2:30) he would detail more about the truth that caused the split between him and Duck in a phone interview with VLAD TV. Lil Jay would say cause of the split form FBG was disloyalty and no one checking on him or putting money on his books https://youtu.be/n7mjaPyYLi8 (4:59-5:23) Duck hit back stating what actually happened, saying Lil Jay was the one not loyal and was basically a snake https://youtu.be/GEtxbzjtcf0 (1:15-1:42) https://youtu.be/zOJeLgB36ro (10:05-11:32) https://youtu.be/zOJeLgB36ro (0:53-1:07)
Facing life in prison after turning down an 8-year plea deal, Jay was stressing. Worst yet, word got out that the person meant to be his homie, Butta, flipped and snitched. Lil Jay himself got hold of the apparent receipts and posted to his IG before them being taken down
If its one thing that brings the streets together, its to crucify a snitch online and boy did they go in
Fast forward after a few years on his case, Butta was a free man while Lil Jay is still locked fighting his. This only aided in persons believing the snitching allegations against Butta https://youtu.be/LM23AaYCAjA (0:00-4:15) Butta hasn’t once acknowledged the allegations against him to be true and said its no repairing the friendship between him and Lil Jay https://youtu.be/qa5bHgDzUmY (5:10-5:30) The two used to be teaming up for beefs now they themselves are beefing with each other https://youtu.be/8N0pM-qCR4M (3:34-3:47)
While Butta was out on the outside, Lil Jay was spending upwards of 200k trying to fight his case https://youtu.be/n7mjaPyYLi8 (2:41-2:57) It appeared to pay off when the murder charge against him was dropped and reduced to attempted murder or conspiracy to murder https://youtu.be/n7mjaPyYLi8 (1:18-1:54) Lil Jay even posted a phone conversation online where he was hyping fans up that he’ll be coming home in 2020 https://youtu.be/PkaACjcqhq4 (0:05-1:16) Unfortunately 2020 came and went with Lil Jay still unable to get parole. Recent photo’s online popped up of him behind bars and many were surprised at how much his image changed
Not only does he not look like the young reckless savage he used to be, but his thinking has also matured. Lil Jay has squashed his beefs with rappers like Rondonumbanine
behind bars and switched from wanting to be gang gang to just elevating himself and making money, realizing the streets takes awake the future rather than gives it https://youtu.be/CdIFZIbHZGI (3:33-3:57) https://youtu.be/CdIFZIbHZGI (3:58-4:27) From phone interviews from prison you can tell he’s grown up and seen the end result of the lifestyle he was living. When asked why he didn’t leave Chicago after getting shot, Lil Jay was man enough to admit that it felt like that would be a cowardly move but now he sees the bigger picture understanding that was the wrong mentality to have https://youtu.be/RLqLFzH0OHk (11:09-12:19) This pride seems a big reason why many in Chicago stay until they lose their life. The Grim Reaper Lil Reese also sees it as cowardly if you up and leave the city https://youtu.be/SOURnN1AIYM (5:19-5:42).
I for one can respect the maturity of Lil Jay, seeing the errors of his past and trying to embrace a better life. We know the streets is hard to escape when the past has so much dirt, but got to cheer for those trying to make a way. Wishing the best for Lil Jay, hope he gets out soon and able to just pursue music and get make back up for all the life he’s lost behind bars. At the very least, him and Duck patched things up two weeks before his life was tragically taken because I know that would have hurt Lil Jay seeing basically his brother dying with them on bad terms https://youtu.be/Bh04heNpGUY (0:58-2:37) He’s vowed when he gets out to do right by Duck and take care of his fam https://youtu.be/Bh04heNpGUY (3:09-3:28)
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Chad is a professional journalist specializing in Hip-Hop culture and writing music reviews.
