Lil Tjay, the 18-year-old “F.N” rapper from the Bronx, New York, is having a breakout year. He went from being basically unknown in January to having a No. 11 song on the Billboard Hot 100 (Polo G’s “Pop Out,” on which he has a feature verse) to signing a record deal with Columbia. His own debut album, True 2 Myself, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and featured none other than rap icon and certain Tjay influence Lil Wayne, on the remix of his song “Leaked,” which gets its own circus-themed video with Wayne today. Watch it above.
The video is largely based around shots of a circus and surrounding carnival grounds at twilight, complete with a ferris wheel, carousel, camels, and carnies played by scantily-clad dancers. As the dancers twirl hula hoops and fire sticks in the background, Tjay and Wayne croon their way through their respective, sexually-explicit verses under the big top. A quartet of male dancers in clown makeup provide a bit of balance while their female counterparts flirt with the camera.
Lil Wayne may have boasted that he only listens to his own music but it’s clear he still has a tremendous influence on the youth. He’s still helpfully handing out features to his longtime collaborators as well, but it’s good to see him showing new artists some love and helping them out, knowing how much tougher it is to stand out on the internet.
Lil Tjay’s debut album, True 2 Myself, is out now on Columbia. Check it out here.
