ilyTOMMY

A favorite among Gen Z audiences, rapper ilyTOMMY—previously known as Haroinfather—shaped his affection-centered rap around minimal samples and stories of tangled relationships. His subdued take on the style drew substantial listeners in the early 2020s, as “Forever” and “Princess Bubblegum” each surpassed 100 million streams.

Tommelik Ward first surfaced in 2017 under the Haroinfather moniker, introducing a distinctly lo-fi rap aesthetic. Early gloomy cuts such as “Lonely Nights” and “Slave to the Hurt” featured muffled vocals, anguished narratives, and motifs of internal conflict. During the opening months of 2018 he explored alternate directions, issuing the reflective “We’re All Lost” alongside the assertive, energetic “Listen.” Signature territory emerged with “She’s My Lover Girl,” where short samples were reshaped into mellow, repeating beats and low-toned vocals formed concise one- to two-minute rap ballads centered on lost affection and longing. The jazz-tinged follow-up “Princess Bubblegum” became a breakthrough, accumulating more than 100 million streams by 2021.

Closing that year with parallel releases “Mia Wallace” and “Table for Two,” Ward shifted toward a bolder tone in early 2019. He joined Savage Ga$p and Keshore for the indulgent “It’s Only Right to Fall in Love Twice,” then issued “Lavagirl” and “PEP$I.” Continued partnership with Ga$p yielded the second major success “Tunnel of Love,” built on a Legend of Zelda sample, followed by the darker “Please Pick Up” and “Us vs. the World.” Shortly afterward came the third major hit “Forever,” which wove Yuna’s “Lullabies” into an evocative backdrop for turbulent romances and personal strife, eventually surpassing 100 million streams.

Into 2020 the duo maintained momentum, releasing “Maybe It’s for the Best” and the “Tunnel of Love [Remix]” in late 2019 before adding “Like Dat” and “I’m Drunk and I Miss You Too” in the first half of 2020. Solo efforts such as the vocal-driven “Jennifer’s Body” rounded out the year, after which Ward moved into 2021 with “Paris Hilton” and “Tinkerbell.”