Rap-Up
Exclusive: City Girls Talk Breakout Success, Prison, & Cardi B
City Girls are blowing up.
J.T. (Jatavia Johnson) and Yung Miami (Caresha Brownlee) dropped their breakout project PERIOD in May and are currently featured on the No. 1 record in the country, Drake’s “In My Feelings.”
After gushing over their love for the 6 God, the Miami rap duo spoke to Rap-Up about their come-up and rise to stardom. “I always knew that I didn’t want to be a regular person,” said J.T. “I won’t say that I wanted to be a rapper, but I never wanted to be an average person.”
The childhood friends, who cite Miami legends Trina and Trick Daddy as influences, got their big break when they released the raw and uncensored “Fuck Dat Ni**a,” which caught the attention of Coach K and Pierre “Pee” Thomas, who signed them to Quality Control Music. The viral hit would later appear on the Quality Control: Control the Streets, Vol. 1 compilation.
Now they share the same home as Migos, Lil Yachty, and Cardi B, who they idolize. “Cardi opened the door for a lot of normal girls to feel like they could be rappers. I love Cardi for that,” said J.T. “I watched Cardi from being that girl in her bed to being at the Met Gala. She a real bitch.”
They hope to collaborate with the new mom, who is managed by Quality Control. “That would be the littest song of all time,” said J.T., while Miami added, “City Girls plus Cardi? That’s too ratchet.”
In the midst of all their success, J.T. checked into a Florida prison last month for felony identity theft. In January, she was sentenced to 24 months, but is expected to serve around six months.
“It’s gonna go by fast,” said J.T. in one of her last interviews before checking herself in on June 29. “Nobody will probably even notice I’m gone like that…Well, they’ll notice I’m gone because I tweet a lot and they probably gon’ miss that.”
Despite J.T.’s absence, the group plans to stay active by releasing more music. “When I’m gone, it’s gonna be a whole project coming out, more videos,” she revealed.