brb, changing my whole persona to jt’s Poster Girl fall/winter 23 photo shoot ✌🏽💞
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“Everyone that knows me for real knows I’m a real outgoing, fun, free spirit,” Caresha Brownlee, the 24-year-old rapper known as Yung Miami of the South Florida duo City Girls, tells me over the phone. “I don’t think about ‘What will happen if I do this?’ I just do it.” That much is clear not just over the telephone – in spite of a crappy line, even – but in her music as well. Along with Miami’s childhood friend Jatavia “JT” Johnson, City Girls can’t help but subvert hip-hop: they’re two female rappers inspired by street-edged icons like Trick Daddy and Trina (a close friend of Yung Miami’s family) and make unapologetically raunchy music preaching sexual and financial empowerment, often at the expense of bewitched men. Unlike most rappers, City Girls can sound entitled to the finer things and make you root for them to get what they’re after.
It’s uncommonly accurate to call City Girls overnight successes: “Fuck Dat Nigga,” the first City Girls song ever, was released in August 2017. Soon, the track, which features a prominent sample of fellow Florida rapper Khia's "My Neck My Back," racked up hundreds of thousands of plays. By December, the group had signed to Quality Control, the Atlanta label and home to rap royalty like Migos and Cardi B. Their debut album Period was released in May, and everything changed for the girls again in June, when Drake released his album Scorpion containing the No. 1 hit “In My Feelings,” featuring vocals from the girls. No matter the currency – charisma, hip-hop clout, or actual finance – City Girls have it in spades.
All of these successes came in spite of JT’s looming incarceration on credit card fraud charges. She was initially arrested and held not long after “Fuck Dat Nigga” began making waves, and Yung Miami was left with the burden of judging whether or not the project they had just started for fun could actually become a career. “I was like ‘Damn, this our way out,’” Miami says. “When she was in jail, I was going to strip clubs and I would pay a DJ $20 to play the song. It started taking off.” Her hustle led to their record deal, and not long after, the Drake song had landed in their lap. Unfortunately, JT has been robbed of the opportunity to live in the world take up the #InMyFeelings challenge: she reported to jail in July for a two-year prison sentence, and is scheduled to be released on March 21, 2020.
That leaves Yung Miami to carry the flame. She’s enjoying the Range Rover and condo her advance money bought her, and hopes to greet her mother with a house and car when she’s released from prison in 2021. That goal will be helped by the upcoming City Girls project and her unshakeable bond with JT, both of which she detailed for The FADER.
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Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared
The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!
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