Jayo Sama

Background

Jonas Joseph, known professionally as Jayo Sama, was born on November 1, 1996, in West Palm Beach, Florida. His parents were born in Haiti and immigrated to the U.S. where he and his siblings were born. He has two siblings, a brother, who goes by Rip T.J., and a sister, Ermika Joseph. Sama loved music and began singing and rapping from a young age. Sama and other kids at school were bullied for being Haitian and he would often defend them.

He attended high school in Florida but eventually dropped out. He spent some time in prison due to drug-related charges. After being released, he decided to pursue a career in music. He began releasing music in 2016 on SoundCloud. He released a few singles that he later turned into a mixtape. His first mixtape, “Bringin’ Drama Vol. 1,” was released in 2017. He began releasing his music videos on YouTube and gained millions of views and new fans. The first song he released on YouTube was ‘Intro,’ which gained over 2.7 million views. He began growing in popularity in 2018 with almost 60,000 followers on Instagram and over 16 million views on his YouTube channel. The rapper wrote and produced his own music and was getting recognition.

Sama and his girlfriend Sofia Veronica, a fellow rapper, announced they were expecting a child together in 2018. The couple were together for several years and had a baby boy. Jayo Sama sadly passed away in 2019 at the age of 22. He was found dead from a gunshot wound in a car near Palm Beach Lakes High School. His girlfriend and other loved ones paid him a tribute on social media.