Before The City Girls Would Be twerking with Cardi B on a Yacht
Before they would get the attention of Drake and be a part of his number 1 hit “In My
Feelings”
Before they would sign to Quality Control
And before they would have over 300k subscribers on YouTube and over 1 million followers on
Instagram
The City Girls had an astronomical rise to fame and it came all from authenticity. The
two women decided to start rapping as a joke when they went to the studio to make a diss
track towards some local Miami women, but after turning the song into a female empowerment
anthem, they started to gain some local buzz. They performed at strip clubs and gained a
following online, even getting the attention of one of the biggest music execs in the business.
And after dropping their debut project, a pretty well-known Canadian rapper reached
out to them to do a song. And the craziest part is that all of this happened in the span
of less than a year.
Yung Miami of City Girls said:
“We want to be a miracle. We want everybody to believe it can happen to them, because
we really are just regular girls.” What’s going on good people in the comment
section??? I hope you’re having one Hecht of a day. My name is Jeremy Hecht here for
you on Before They were famous taking you through the life and career of City Girls
prior to fame. If you haven’t watched some of the newer videos, I’m the LA host for
this channel and I’ll be doing weekly content to help out Michael whose schedule is crazy.
We've also done recent profiles on people like Future, Shoreline Mafia and Saweetie
as well as some epic Before They Were Famous' on Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Drake and more so be sure
to check those out after you finish watching this video. In the meantime in between time,
if there's anybody we should cover, let us know in the comments down below.
you can let me know on Instagram, my link will be below, send me your
requests. But without any more talk, let’s get into the video!
The City Girls consist of two members, Yung Miami born Caresha Brownlee on February 11,
1994 in Miami, Florida and JT, born Jatavia Johnson on December 3, 1992 in Liberty City,
Florida. “I’m still, I still live there. And I
don’t wanna leave there. Well bye, I’ll call you on FaceTime when I leave there because
I don’t wanna live there.” Growing up, Yung Miami told Rolling Stone
that her childhood was basically an adulthood. In the City Girls documentary, she said that
she grew up in a rough neighborhood that wasn’t exactly like the beautiful Miami you picture
when you think of the city. She says there was everything from fights happening regularly
outside her apartment complex to them having fun running around outside during Hurricanes…
To me that’s more scary than fun but I can see the appeal.
JT and Miami have been friends since their early teen years but the story of how they
actually met changes in basically, every interview they do. Whether they connected off of Myspace,
were both popular and had heard of each other through the city, they knew each other’s
cousins and best friends, they spent time at each other’s grandmother’s houses…
I don’t know, It’s not exactly clear how they first met, but, those are the best kinds
of friendships, where you don’t really remember how someone came into your life, but you can’t
remember what your life was like without them.
“We got history together. Like my friends is literally my family. ‘Cause you know
it’s a girl thing, we gotta stick together.”
Either way, they both went to middle school together in Miami where they would go out
at night and party at teen clubs until 2 o’ clock in the morning. But JT didn’t just
cap it at teen clubs, she was sneaking into strip clubs by the time she was 17.
My mom never let me go to teen clubs back in Winnipeg, Canada. But looking back on it
I’m kinda thankful cause thinking about the owners of those teen clubs… They were
probably pretty creepy and the whole idea of it kinda seems weird now…
But Yung Miami’s mom was friends with Trick Daddy, was around Rick Ross, and Trina is
Yung Miami’s longtime family friend and is actually her Godmother, so she might have
a bit more street cred than my mom. Sorry mom. Miami says that Trina helped raise her
and she told XXL:
"All I can remember is always going to the fair with her when it come around every year
and there’d be bodyguards. Everybody running up to her like, 'Can I take a picture?’"
“This music that’s dominant, it’s powerful. And as a woman you have to have so much determination
and so much willpower and so much confidence, that you really don’t give a s*** about
what anyone else thinks.”
Trina has become a mentor and gives the two advice. But at first, neither one of them
wanted to be a rapper. JT’s father had a studio in their house and wanted his kids
to become rappers, but apparently none of them had any bars so JT would have to write
everyone’s raps.
“And he used to make me sit in there and write all their raps and I was oh no I don’t
wanna be a rapper. I never thought about rapping or nothing until like last year, August, that’s
when I thought of it.”
Miami always knew she wanted a lavish lifestyle, but never pictured her money coming in from
rap. Both Miami and JT learned the hustling game from their mothers who always dated wealthy
men and taught them how to finesse for what they want. Yung Miami’s mom told her, to
never talk to a man who can’t do anything for you. Not bad advice…
Unfortunately, Miami’s mother went to jail a couple of years ago and Miami says that
was one of the hardest things that she ever had to face.
“It made me a woman. And that’s how I learned how to deal with like a lot of things
I go through now. It just made me strong.”
JT said that her first car in high school was bought for her by a boy who spent his
income tax check on new wheels for the City Girl. After teaching him how to file his taxes,
he bought her an Altima Coupe with the return. And I guess the girls are really living their
raps because on the song “Period” she says
“I call my last dude Monopoly, I f***ed him so good, I owned a few properties.”
But it wasn’t just taking money from dudes, the two women were always bossed up themselves.
JT said she always had a job working at various places from Whole Foods, to Burger King. She
just wanted more.. And can’t be mad at her for that.
In High School JT began rapping for fun and was in a rap group with her friends called
Pretty B****es Bang Pink. Great name.
“One day she just called me and was like… Caresha… let’s do this song. I got these
two beats, lets rap. And I’m like… girl like… what the f*** like, I aint no rapper.
I’m like no.”
After playing her the beat with her finished verse, and begging her to get on the song,
finally, Miami put her verse on it.
Yung Miami grew up listening to Jeezy and a lot of trap music in the car while her boyfriend
drove her to school, and of course she would listen to her godmother Trina. While JT, had
more of an affinity for gospel music like Yolanda Adams and Kirk Franklin.
At first the two just wanted to use rap to record a diss track in 2017 towards some girls
in their city, after getting into some beef. They contacted their friend and producer MajorNine
and bought a beat that sampled “My Neck, My Back” and they recorded the track “F
that dude.” But the song ended up being more of an independent women and well, broke
boy bashing anthem than a diss track to any girls in particular. In an interview with
HotNewHipHop they told you how to spot a brokeboy.
“Dirty fingernails. If you’re nails is dirty… uh uh, broke.”
Okay, so I think I’m clear on number 1. What else we have?
“Two, how loud you talk. A lot of n****s be broke talking loud. Just doing the most.”
Uh… okay so I’m pretty loud if you couldn’t tell. I talk a lot… so, I would fail that
test
“Three. Boxers. If you don’t have on like… Calvin Klein…”
That’s a relief… I have Calvin Klein boxers on BUT little do they know that I got them
all from Norstrom Rack on wholesale. SO how’s that for finesse ladies?
“If you always come in a t-shirt or undershirt, it’s like n**** where your shirt at?”
Uh…. Alright so I think I’m gonna fail this test so let’s get back to the video.
Thank you to the City Girls for the self-esteem booster…
They also contacted local rapper and friend Iceberg, to ask about using his studio. They
were there from 9pm to 6am recording while Iceberg was asleep. While they were originally
worried that he would be too hard on them, they ended up being even harder critics on
themselves.
The two recorded the track 5 different times in their cousin’s warehouse studio for free,
before finally finding the version that they would promote.
“The first time we did it, it was so drowsy.”
They never felt quite confident in the record being perfect but eventually Miami told JT
they had to just put it out because she was done with going to the studio late when I
have a child to take care of. Yung Miami’s son Jai is also adorable on a side note.
“One of the best things I ever did was have a baby. It keeps me grounded, it gives me
purpose. I got something to live for.”
It also goes to show you that you’ll never get anything perfect, but if it’s good,
it’ll rise to the top so to all of my creators out there, just put it out and let it rise
instead of worrying about having something being perfect.
The City Girls released the song later that month but just as the song dropped, JT was
arrested for credit card fraud. So while she was dealing with that, Yung Miami was forced
to promote the song solo. She used Instagram and local Miami clubs to get the song heard.
She would get girls to sing the song and then repost it to her page and then would tip the
DJ’s at clubs anywhere from 20 to 200 dollars to play their song.
The buzz from their song started to get them booked for local shows at clubs like Heads
or Tails and G5ive. At their first show, there was a fight outside
and a lot of chaos. But when they finally got inside, people knew their song word for
word and they had the club packed. The two were popular in their city so they
already had a lot of people who were fans of them routing for them to succeed for their
neghborhood.
“Our first show was at this club called Heads Or Tails. On our way there, it was a
big fight, there was shooting, people running, we like man we ain’t gonna never make it.”
JT was locked up for a short period of time while the song started to blow up and she
almost lost sight of their vision. Even Miami said she was trying to be an Instagram
model at the time and was ready to go down that route if music didn’t work… She had
80k followers on her Caresha’s Collection page where she would sell dresses and wigs,
so at the time so it was working out.
“I was tryna get there, like I was almost there. So I was like you know. How did you
almost get there? ‘Cause my followers was getting there.”
One day she does still hope to design her own fashion collection. But when JT got out,
the two did a freestyle over D to the A. They recorded a video for their first track and
dropped it the following year, even getting Trina and DJ Khaled in the video. Trina gave
the two her co-sign in a Hot 97 interview saying:
“It just reminded me of me, way back when I came out with Trick. It was just two of
them now but it just reminded me of the same thing. Like they didn’t choose this as a
career. They’re regular girls, they’re fly, they do their thing.
And their rise to fame did happen pretty quickly and unsuspectingly to both the girls who still
didn’t really see rap as a real career option at the time.
But a couple of months later they met the man that changed it all for them. They got
a manager, Stanley Gabart… I think that’s how you pronounce his name… to help them
steer their career and he steered them in the right direction. He was friends with music
industry vet and head of Quality Control music, the same label that has Cardi, Migos, Yachty
and Lil Baby, Coach K. I just did a video on Zion Williamson, and Coach K was also the
man who changed his life, but different coach K’s…
City Girls manager showed their music to Coach and he loved their vibe. So when he was in
Miami for BET Hip-Hop weekend, he met them and wanted to help them reach new heights,
even with JT’s pending case. QC and Coach K wanted to sign City Girls to a deal. At
first, they resisted and wanted to stay independent. But after talking things over and having QC
agree to let them be themselves, even under their management, they signed a joint deal
with Quality Control and Capitol Records 11 months after recording their first song.
“They hug us tight when they see us, they don’t be like… Nobody acting more bigger
than anybody. They keep it real. And they help us too. It’s a family, like.”
So yeah things happened pretty quickly. To celebrate the signing, Miami went to the strip
club and Coach bought them Quality Control chains.
That’s not the only thing that Coach gave the girls though, Coach K actually gave the
City Girls their name!
“He was like ‘I think you girls should be called the City Girls because you know
y’all from the city of Miami and every man want’s him a girl from the city’”
Prior to that, the duo was just going as Yung Miami & JT holding their individual rap names.
There were some other options like Groupchat and Twesome?
“They wanted to name us twosome… Our management team wanted to name us twosome, her over there.”
But apparently at first Pee, the other head of QC, wasn’t on the same page as Coach
K when it came to the City Girls music:
“‘Cause Pee ain’t feel the City Girls… P wasn’t feeling it in the beginning? No
Pee didn’t understand the City Girls."
Eventually he saw the vision and helped them get focused for a run, making sure they were
in the studio every day recording their debut project. In May of 2018 they dropped their
16 track debut project “period” which includes the songs Take Yo Man, Where The
Bag At and Give It A Try. But City Girls’ star really went to new heights when Drake
followed them on Instagram and wanted to get them on a record.
“So we like Pee stop playing with us and he was like I’m serious. He was like alright
I’m gonna screenshot it, y’all FaceTime me and he showed me the DM. And we was like
oh my god we made it.”
The two flew to Atlanta to secretly record the song with Drake, who ended up chopping
their vocals and using it for “In My Feelings.” Drake was asking Resha and JT if they love
him on a song! They got name drops in arguably the biggest song of the year… But it must
have been incredibly bitter sweet because the song was released 18 hours before JT had
to report to prison.
JT was locked up for fraud charges and is set to serve 2 years in Miami’s federal
detention center, but everyone is hopeful that she will get out early on good behavior.
She said this on Instagram:
"Did more than I thought I could imagine in this short period of time out on bond. Now
it's time for me to knock this down and come back strong forever. Hold my baby down y’all,"
“I got a federal case, I gotta go to jail.”
As for the future, when JT gets out, the group hopes to be worldwide. They want to be the
next Migos and Miami told Rolling Stone: “Ten years from now we want to still be
hot. We want to be big.” Once JT comes home, there is most likely going
to be a City Girls Tour also and of course more new music.
But as for the rest of the story? Well I guess we’ll have to wait and see because this
is before they were famous. We make new bios every day on this channel so be sure to check
those out and make sure to subscribe! As always, I’m Jeremy Hecht here for you on Before
They Were Famous, Dream Good, Live Better, I hope you have one hecht of a day and I’ll
see you in the next video!