Screenshot from Lil Tjay’s “June 22nd” video
Lil Tjay Recalls His Near-Death Shooting In "June 22nd" Video
One year after the events that nearly snuffed out his promising rap career, Lil Tjay returns with another anthem of survival. His latest single, “July 22nd,” is a testament to the trauma he endured after being discharged from the hospital roughly two months after being shot
On that fateful day in 2022, the rapper was embroiled in a robbery attempt gone wrong in New Jersey. In the almost four-minute clip, Tjay revisits the shooting while offering a graphic dramatization of the incident that found him shot seven times.
“Got fried point blank, zombie mode, might faint. In the stu’, grind more, this the picture I’ma paint. Tryna sign s**t, it’s the day that I met Ice Spice. She came through lookin’ nice, but I was thinkin’, ‘What’s the price?’ But back to me, fell asleep right in the stu’, I’m lackin’,” he raps in the song’s opening verse.
The “July 22nd” music video cuts between scenes of the “Callin’ My Phone” artist’s present-day studio sessions with flashbacks of his near-fatal encounter and the life-saving surgery that followed. However, the stark depiction of violence is notably absent, ensuring a relatively bloodless visual narrative.
Previously, Tjay channeled the harrowing incident into his compelling single “Beat The Odds.” It marked the musician’s first release post-recovery, hinting at his struggle with lingering trauma and the wisdom he gleaned from a fellow survivor of gun violence, 50 Cent.
Unfortunately, the New York rapper has already found himself on the wrong side of the law multiple times this year. This month, he faced an arrest in New York under the charge of reckless endangerment. His lawyer, Dawn Florio, clarified that the arrest was not related to gun possession.
During the incident, which unfolded live on Instagram, the artist maintained a defiant attitude against police officers. The NYPD later confirmed that Lil Tjay had been charged with criminal possession of a weapon after brandishing a fake firearm from the sunroof of a moving vehicle.