Who Is Lil Tay? What to Know About the Viral Rapper and Her Family Amid Possible Death Hoax

Rapper and influencer Lil Tay has captivated the internet since the very start.

The viral personality — born Claire Hope — first rose to fame in 2018 at the age of 9. Tay was known for her sensationalized Instagram videos, which showed her rapping, yelling expletives and showing off her lavish lifestyle.

Not long after her meteoric rise, however, Tay seemingly disappeared from the internet, deleting her Instagram account and going silent on the millions of fans she had accumulated on the app.

The rapper’s parents, Angela Tian and Christopher Hope, were embroiled in a contentious custody battle. Though Tay had been living in Los Angeles with her mother while growing her online presence, she was ordered by the court to return to Vancouver and into her father’s custody in 2018, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. Then in 2020, a judge approved Angela's “application for relocation with the daughter to Los Angeles” and “ordered child support” from Hope, according to the docs.

While Tay, now 14, has largely stayed out of the public eye in the years since, fans were shocked on Aug. 9 when a statement was shared on her Instagram account that claimed she had died along with her older brother, Jason Tian.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire’s sudden and tragic passing,” the statement read. “We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock.”

Though her death was confirmed to Variety by her management, her father and a lawyer representing her mother were unable to confirm the news to PEOPLE. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner have no record of the alleged death.

Amid the ongoing situation, here’s what to know about Lil Tay, her family and her rise to fame.

Who is Lil Tay?

Tay was born Claire Eileen Qi Hope on July 29, 2007. She was raised in Vancouver and her parents shared custody.

Tay was a born performer, enrolling in ballet classes at a young age and competing with the Royal Ballet Academy.

“She always had a passion for music,” her mom told The Daily Beast in December 2018. “Before Lil Tay blew up, she always had singing lessons and dance lessons.”

How did Lil Tay become famous?

In late 2017, Tay found a new creative outlet for her music dreams: posting rap videos on YouTube and Instagram.

By early 2018, she began gaining a following after sharing videos of her seemingly luxurious lifestyle filled with fancy cars and stacks of money. In one of her earlier videos from March 2018, she gave followers a tour of a lavish apartment, complete with a closet stocked with designer goods.

She continued to rack up fans, with her follower count skyrocketing after a filmed hostile encounter with another internet personality, Bhad Bhabie. Tay also teamed up with other big names for content, including Chief Keef, Jake Paul and Diplo. 

She also continued to make connections in the music industry, meeting with major labels and producers like Rick Rubin, per The Cut. In June 2018, she posted an Instagram tribute to the late rapper XXXTentacion shortly after his death, calling him a “father figure” in a caption shared alongside a screenshot of the two FaceTiming. 

Despite her rising stardom, Tay’s tribute to the artist was her last post on her fast-growing Instagram account. Much to her followers’ confusion, the young rapper seemingly disappeared from the internet less than four months after her initial post.

Who is Lil Tay’s brother, Jason Tian?

While much of the hype around Tay was attributed to her young age and sensationalist personality, the 9-year-old wasn’t, in fact, the true driver of the Lil Tay online presence.

Tay’s half-brother, Jason Tian, was later revealed to be the force behind his sister's account. Per The Cut, Jason had attempted to launch an internet career of his own, but instead dedicated his efforts to growing Tay’s fame after realizing how people reacted to the young girl’s expletive-filled videos.

In May 2018, a video of Jason seemingly coaching Tay on what to say went viral, leading to swift backlash from the rapper’s fans. That same month, Jason appeared in a Good Morning America segment with Tay and their mom. When asked about the rumors that he was telling Tay what to say, Jason replied, “A lot of people are going to say this and that. We just keep going.”

Not long after the interview, Tay’s account was wiped from the internet. It returned a few months later, though, and began posting unconfirmed Instagram Stories that alleged Tay’s father was abusive and behind on child support payments. The account also posted the phone number of Christopher’s law firm and email address, resulting in thousands of messages.

The account soon went dark again. That December, however, Tay broke her silence during a joint interview with Jason and her mom for The Daily Beast, during which Jason denied being behind the allegations against Christopher and claimed Tay’s account had been hacked.

When asked if it was Jason’s idea to start her Instagram, Tay didn’t confirm or deny: “Right now I’m in a bad situation and I don’t want to talk about these things,” she said. When the interviewer asked her to elaborate on the situation, she responded, “With Chris Hope.”

In 2021, Jason created a GoFundMe for his sister, alleging that Tay had gone silent because of a court order from Christopher. He also alleged that Christopher had “signed million dollar deals and taken all of Tay’s money for himself,” and claimed that he had “physically and mentally abused” Tay. Jason alleged that all of the funds raised would go towards Tay’s court battle against her father “to give her the fighting chance in court to save her from a life of abuse.” (Christopher has denied those allegations.)

As of August 2023, the page had raised over $17,000.

Who are Lil Tay’s parents, Angela Tian and Christopher Hope?

Tay was raised by her parents: Angela, a Vancouver real estate agent, and Christopher, a lawyer. Though the couple split when their daughter was young, they continued to share custody throughout her childhood.

When it came to Tay’s viral fame, however, the two had extremely different reactions.

Angela was a proponent of Tay’s internet presence from the start, traveling with her and Jason to L.A. to film content and meet with potential collaborators. However, she maintained that Tay and her brother were the forces behind Tay’s account.

"She had the idea with her brother. I was never involved. I’m kind of old. I don’t Instagram," Angela told The Daily Beast.

Angela did assist in the making of Tay’s content by letting her film videos in the homes she was showing for work, which allegedly led to her firing at the company. (In May 2018, a rep from her employer confirmed to The Verge that she was no longer attached to the firm, saying in a statement, “Our firm does not condone this type of behavior and has no place for this in our business.”)

While speaking to The Cut, Tay’s father alleged that he was kept in the dark about his daughter’s growing internet fame, and only found out after her school called him. Concerned about his daughter’s well-being, he then got a court order for her to return home to Vancouver and delete her Lil Tay account.

"He just came back because he wants money,” Tay claimed to The Daily Beast, alleging that her father threatened to “have my mom put in jail,” which led to her, Jason and Angela erasing the Instagram profile.

Christopher denied Tay’s allegations to HollywoodLife, saying, “Everyone else involved in this situation is motivated by money and the possibility of making money off of my daughter. I am not fighting about money; I am fighting for my daughter – for her happiness and her future.”

Where is Lil Tay now?

One day after the statement announcing Tay’s death was shared on her Instagram, it was removed from the account.

In a statement to PEOPLE about the recent news, Angela’s Vancouver-based lawyer Fraser MacLean of MacLean Family Law said, "Given the sensitive nature of the situation, we have no comment at this time."

When reached by PEOPLE, Christopher said, "I don't have any comment."

Meanwhile, Tay’s former manager Harry Tsang called the "legitimacy" of the post into question, per a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

"Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family," he said. "This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved."