By | Alyssa Frigillana Dugan
From Miami-Dade County, female rappers Jatavia Johnson (JT) and Caresha Brownlee (Yung Miami) have blossomed into one of the most iconic hip-hop duos since the ’90s. Both women come from the bottom of Miami and never intended to become rich off of lyrics. Yung Miami once said in an interview: “We want to be a miracle, we want everybody to believe it can happen to them because we really are just regular girls.” So how did they become such a sensation so fast?
JT stated her father owned a studio growing up, and wanted all of his children to rap, but her siblings weren’t good at writing or spitting, therefore JT wrote and rapped for everybody in her family to make her father happy, yet she never enjoyed it nor thought this would become her path to success. The hobby for making music resurfaced when JT wanted to make a diss track for other girls in Miami and begged Yung Miami to hop on a verse, and when she did, they realized they make a great musical team. On an episode of Caresha Please, Yung Miami even stated that with being from Dade County, “all we do is talk sh*t”, which contributes heavily to the city girl persona of sticking together with your best friend against other female peers that are trying to tear you or your best friend down. A huge part of femininity, whether admitted or not, is gossiping with your closest most trusted homegirls, and riding for them if it ever gets to that point because being real comes with loyalty.
In a time of the emergence of female rappers, from Latto to Cardi B, debates have been made over who is the so-called “Princess of Rap”. In JT’s interview on Caresha Please, she stated that she doesn’t care much for the title or discourse, and there’s nothing for her to compete for. Essentially, she’s sticking to that Miami girl she is deep down inside and not letting a title impact her or her ego because all she needs to do is make music and remain humble. As far as JT’s background goes, she comes from the hood, born and raised, therefore she knows who she and Yung Miami’s target audience is and how to appeal to them, aka the “urban market”. Hip-hop is a way for souls to connect heavily through writing about the struggles and pains of coming from a lower socioeconomic status or simply being of color. When the City Girls dropped their album “Period”, a phrase they soon capitalized on, they released the song “Where the Bag At”. A few lyrics from this song, in particular, stand out because it motivates women to get it up and on their own and show what to prioritize: “Own crib, own car, yea you like that” and “If it don't make money it don’t make sense”, emphasizing to listeners the importance of being able to flex having a house or car in your name and not a man’s and to be about your paper.
City Girls do a great job of highlighting that you don’t need men in your life, and if they are in your life, they need to be doing something for you to make it easier, or else they’re just wasting your time if they aren’t contributing. Materialism is something that exists within all of us, and one can’t be blamed for wanting better for themselves after being in survival mode their entire life. JT has finally made it in the aspect of not only her career, but her boyfriend Lil Uzi Vert taking care of her, buying her Birkins, and not knowing when the first of the month is. Being a city girl is more than running around and scamming, it’s about actually making something of yourself and becoming happy with a significant other who’s willing to take care of you because you’re simply that girl. Not only JT, but Yung Miami has a very successful talk show/podcast on Youtube Revolt called “Caresha Please” where she brings on other Black hip-hop artists and influential people from her own life (ex: Diddy, G Herbo, Trina, JT) to discuss the industry, sexuality, fame, and the truth behind what it’s really like being a celebrity.
Both JT and Yung Miami grew up with their mothers dating wealthy men, and Yung Miami’s mother was well-connected with a few celebrities such as Rick Ross, Trina, and Trick Daddy. Miami legend, Trina, is Yung Miami’s Godmother, and it gave Caresha the inspiration and a role model to look up to whenever they would go out together when she was little because of all of the fangirls she had. From a young age, Caresha knew the exact lifestyle she wanted to work towards, especially after coming from the same background as Dade like JT. JT even stated about Caresha that everything she has either accomplished or become has been through her “manifestation and delusion” and that Caresha was always traveling out and about in places and with people she wasn’t supposed to be around because she knew the lifestyle she would soon live rather than pretend or hope for.
The rise of the City Girls wasn’t all peaches and cream for Yung Miami and JT when they first came out. After they had dropped some of their first few hit singles, such as Act Up, Take Yo Man, Where the Bag At, etc. the group dealt with the hardship of JT going to prison from 2018 to 2019 for credit card fraud the same day their feature with Drake’s song “In My Feelings” was released, not too long after they signed their first deal with Quality Control in 2017 with only two songs. While Miami’s co-star was behind bars, she held it down for the both of them because they both knew they were on the rise to stardom. Yung Miami would go to strip clubs and pay DJs a range from twenty to two hundred dollars to play their songs and get them out there and heard. Once JT was finally released, she dropped her own single, “First Day Out” the same day, and sent out the message: “When y’all say ‘the City Girls over’, just change the subject.”
As far as JT and Yung Miami go, JT stated “It’s a girl thing, we gotta stick together”, and that’s exactly what the both of them did during the hardest of times and never split up or went solo, as best friends they’ve made it in life and get to perform and be rich together. Their friendship is a prime example of women uplifting each other and remaining by one another’s side, defying the idea of tearing another woman down or competing for a man’s attention because that would only support patriarchy, and that it’s all about sticking to what they named one of their albums after, Girl Code.
Sources
“JT & Saucy Santana Talk Being A Real City Girl, Their Sex Life, Music Career & More | Caresha Please.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Aug. 2022
Mench, Chris. “City Girls Only Had Two Songs Recorded When They Signed Their Quality Control Deal.” Genius
Instagram, Yung Miami, 10 May 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CsEz9sGOwbW/?img_index=7.
Instagram, Jatavia Johnson, 9 Aug. 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CvvGDYHvsmc/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D.
“Rise of the City Girls.” YouTube, 14 Apr. 2019, Before They Were Famous
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