Lil TJay Stumbles Early but Mounts an Impressive Comeback on XXL’s Rhyme and Risk

In a culture that prizes both personality and pedigree, Lil TJay reminded viewers that rappers’ offstage knowledge can be as revealing as their bars. The Bronx native, the 25-year-old behind “Calling My Phone,” took part in XXL’s Rhyme and Risk, presented by Stake, and the clip trades the usual flexes for something looser: trivia, dares, and a few humiliating bites of mystery candy.

“I’m a competitive person,” he insists. Later, after missing that opening question, he calls a friend and cheerily says, “Have a nice day.”

The game’s setup is refreshingly simple and merciless. Spin the wheel to see the points on offer, pick a trivia card that matches, and answer correctly to bank those points. Get it wrong and you pluck a challenge from the hat and have to follow through. Reach 15 correct answers or 1,500 points and you win; rack up seven incorrect responses and it’s over.

TJay warns himself off before play: he scouts the board and promises he can win. He keeps that competitive edge even as the first question trips him up—failing to name the iconic city known for its chopped-and-screwed sound. The penalty is suitably awkward: a phone call in which he signs off with that bafflingly polite “Have a nice day” to a befuddled friend.

What follows is less about schadenfreude and more about recovery. The “Calling My Phone” rapper reels off answers across a surprising range of hip-hop minutiae: identifying which New York borough Ice Spice hails from, recalling what color light shines through the house on Future’s Mixtape Pluto cover, naming the rapper who broke the Guinness World Record for most words in one hit, and pinpointing his role model’s classic 2017 album. It’s not flawless, but it’s enough to get him back in the game.

He also hits the challenges. Some are harmless stunts, some are gross. At one point TJay swallows a mystery jelly bean and winces so forcefully he admits the producers “went crazy with that one!”

Watch and decide

There’s a pleasing arc to the clip: stumble, regroup, push forward. Whether or not he takes the final trophy, the run feels emblematic of the public persona TJay has been building—a young, competitive Bronx artist comfortable enough to laugh at himself while still flexing knowledge of the culture that raised him.

See if Lil TJay wins the gold and takes home the trophy in the video below.

Watch Lil TJay Play Hip-Hop Trivia in XXL’s Rhyme and Risk Presented by Stake

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