Jalen William Payton (born February 22, 2000), known as Jay Willz, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, and musical engineer. Born in New Orleans and raised in Greensboro, Willz first became known as a musician around 2013, recording musical anthems for his middle school basketball team and making homemade music videos around the city of Greensboro. Jay's biggest inspirations are Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Michael Jackson, and his sister, Ciera Payton. In 2015, Ciera flew Willz out to Hollywood, Los Angeles for a movie screening that she starred in titled "The Runner". This allowed Willz to be introduced to well known actors Nicolas Cage and Rob Schneider. It was at this moment when Willz fell in love with the entertainment lifestyle. He went back to North Carolina a few weeks later and built an in house recording studio. Jay's first mixtape titled "Goated" became available to listeners on his 19th birthday, February 22, 2000. It includes features from artists such as Worldwide$cottie, Lil Dub, and Lil Slab. Not too much is known about Jay's relationship with $cottie and Slab but on "mofthepodcast" (via Soundcloud) Willz and Dub can be heard talking about how they met.