Yung Miami (Caresha Romeka Brownlee) and JT (Jatavia Shakara Johnson) met as teenagers in middle school in Miami-Dade County in the early 2000s. Yung Miami was already something of a local "It girl," known in the neighborhood as rap star Trina's goddaughter and popular on Myspace.
The friendship deepened through shared hardship. When Yung Miami's mother went to prison, Miami moved in with her father, and JT became a regular fixture, often staying over at Miami's grandmother's house after their nights out.
City Girls took their name from their Miami roots - Yung Miami grew up in Opa-locka and JT in Liberty City, two neighborhoods in the Miami-Dade area with reputations for being uncompromising and rough. The name was never just geography; it was an attitude. As Miami put it: "We city girls. We from Miami. We do what we do."
City Girls' debut recording, "F--k Dat Ni--a," was a cathartic diss aimed squarely at their ex-boyfriends for refusing to come off their cash. The beat samples Khia's raunchy classic "My Neck, My Back," giving the track a provocateur energy. The duo recorded it with no commercial ambitions, just as a way to vent. The song spread like wildfire on social media and caught the attention of Atlanta powerhouse label Quality Control Music, which signed them shortly after.
City Girls were among the first female artists signed to Quality Control Music. The label's co-founder Pierre "Pee" Thomas became a close ally of the duo; he and Yung Miami later entered a relationship and had a daughter together named Summer.
The duo's career shifted into a completely different gear when Drake tapped them for his 2018 viral smash "
In My Feelings."
"When he played the song, and Drake says our names, we was like - 'Oh b----, Drake knows our names?!,'"
Miami told Rolling Stone. "I'm about to cry talking about it."
The song topped the Hot 100 and became one of the year's defining cultural moments, introducing City Girls to a global audience.
Just as "In My Feelings" was blowing up, JT was sentenced to federal prison in June 2018 for credit card fraud, leaving Yung Miami to carry the duo on her own. Miami continued promoting their music, attended shows solo, and steered their debut album, Girl Code, through its release - all while fielding questions about when her partner would be back. JT was released in March 2020, and the pair wasted no time, immediately getting to work on their second album, City on Lock.
City Girls' signature hit "
Act Up" was released in January 2019. The track's hook was instantly quotable, and it soundtracked countless viral videos, dances, and highlight reels across Instagram and TikTok before TikTok was a dominant platform. "We made 'Act Up' in like 20 minutes," JT told the Breakfast Club. "It was nothing."
Beyoncé tapped City Girls for her 2020 visual album Black Is King, adding a remix of "Seen It All" as part of the project. Being chosen by Beyoncé for such a high-profile creative statement confirmed the duo's status at the top tier of female rap, something that felt especially meaningful given JT had only recently returned from prison and the pair were rebuilding their momentum.
Issa Rae's 2022 HBO Max series Rap Sh!t was inspired directly by City Girls - its two leads, Shawna and Mia, are a Miami rap duo who start from nothing and try to blow up, mirroring the City Girls' story closely. Miami appeared in the show as herself, with the duo's music featured prominently in the soundtrack. The parallel wasn't lost on viewers, and the show became an additional launchpad for their existing catalog.
Their third album,
RAW, released in 2023, was a commercial and critical step back from their earlier peak - the hooks did not land with the same force, and it failed to produce a breakout single on the scale of "Act Up" or "
Twerk." Shortly after its release, the duo announced a hiatus to focus on their solo careers. Both women have since released music independently.
Beyond music, both members have built substantial brand identities outside of City Girls. Miami launched her talk show Caresha Please on Revolt TV in 2022, which won "Best Hip Hop Platform" at the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards and accumulated over 50 million YouTube views across its episodes. JT, meanwhile, became an ambassador for SKIMS and built a profile as a fashion and style figure.
