Leave the game
as legends,
nothing less.
The new set includes 15 unapologetic bangers, features by Yo Gotti, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and Doja Cat, and wall-to-wall proof that City Girls are constantly developing the unfiltered flow that listeners fell in love with early on. It’s that defiant stance that lifted City Girls to the top of the rap game, sparking interest from the taste-making Quality Control Music, kicking off collaborations with Drake and Cardi B, scoring a handful of platinum records, and winning them “Best New Artist” nominations from both BET and Billboard.
City Girls have done things few female hip-hop duos or groups have managed, and as their momentum continues to rise Billboard magazine chose to recognize them with a cover story as the face of what’s to break in 2020. But City Girls’ ability to stir things up hasn’t been slowed down by their fame. They have never censored themselves, and are more inspired than ever to share their own brand of female empowerment and preach its realness to those who need to hear. “We are from Miami,” says Yung Miami. “We talk what we were raised on, what we go through.”
“We brought back that Period feeling for City on Lock,” says Yung Miami, referring to their 2018 debut mixtape, and she means it literally. Lead City on Lock single “Jobs” samples 2018’s “Tighten Up,” and offers up true tales from the artists’ recent lives and struggles, all on top of a menacing beat. It’s a clever way to connect the past to present. As Yung Miami puts it, “The City Girls are back — even though we never left.”
Yung Miami and JT grew up together around Opa-locka and Liberty City, Florida. They spent their days listening to Pretty Ricky and Destiny’s Child, and their nights slaying at Miami’s teen clubs. Both loved music but never planned to make it a career, let alone write the manual on boss-bitch anthems. But thanks to their raw talent, unrelenting hustle, and fearless attitudes, that’s what they did. It started with a diss track about broke boys, 2017’s “Fuck Dat Nigga,” set to a beat built on Khia’s “My Neck, My Back.” Their high-key tribute to independent women also paid homage to Miami’s rap history — pioneers like 2 Live Crew and Trina, while at the same time announcing City Girls’ newness.
Instead of celebrating, City Girls were back in the studio grinding on what would become their official debut, 2018’s Girl Code. They were working against a hard deadline: the same day “In My Feelings” dropped, JT had turned herself in to authorities on a credit card fraud charge — she had to start serving her sentence before the album was done. “Honestly I didn’t think it was enough for a project,” says JT, “but we got two platinum records off of it.” Those were, of course, the unstoppable “Act Up” (sampled on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer”) and the Miami bass meets New Orleans bounce heater “Twerk,” featuring Cardi B.
As the songs stormed the charts and City Girls fandom spread, JT and Yung Miami talked every day through the prison messaging system, memorizing each other’s lines and keeping things moving. When Yung Miami performed their songs, holding it down for the group, she’d often wear a shirt with JT’s face on it, making sure her friend and partner wasn’t forgotten for even a minute. The time apart had them keyed up, ready to go. On the day she was released, October 8, 2019, JT started writing a new song. She dropped “JT First Day Out” the next day — the first move in what she calls City Girls 2.0. They were soon back in the studio recording again, because as Yung Miami says, as direct as ever, “It was time for something new.”
City Girls have one goal: leave the game as legends, nothing less. Well, that and, as Yung Miami says, “to make people dance during this strange time.” The duo fully expects to succeed by simply being the confident hustlers they’ve always been. City on Lock is a testament to that — a celebration of expression that drops listeners right into the center of City Girls’ world. As JT puts it, “I’m out, we together, we know what we like — this is us.” And as The New Yorker wrote, ignore them at your own peril. Periodt.
Videos
Twerkulator
Pussy Talk Remix feat. Quavo, Lil Wayne, Jack Harlow
Flewed Out feat. Lil Baby
Jobs
Pussy Talk feat. Doja Cat
Act Up
Where The Bag At
Period (We Live)
Photos
Press
+ The City Girls Crown the Best Rapper of the Decade, Complex — Nov 09, 2020
+ City Girls Light Up the BET Hip-Hop Awards Stage, Vulture — Oct 28, 2020
+ City Girls Open Up About JT's Jail Time–And Why They're Ready to Conquer 2020, Billboard
+ The City Girls Are Ready to Start Their Empire, Ladygunn
+ Yung Miami Is Just Getting Started, Galore Mag
+ City Girls "City On Lock", Pitchfork
+ Trina On City Girls: Their Lyrics Are Raw, Real, And Vibrant, Refinery29
+ The Ferocious, Feel-Good Rap of City Girls’ “Girl Code”, The New Yorker
+ Yung Miami gets in her feelings about City Girls, Fader
+ City Girls Return with Long-Awaited Album City on Lock, Vulture
+ City Girls Turn Their Renewed Bond Into Another Big Win On ‘City On Lock’, Uproxx
+ Yung Miami Shows Us How to Shop for Her Man at Patron of the New, Highsnobiety
+ How City Girls Got The World to Love Their Homegrown, Unapologetic Sound, NYLON
+ City Girls On Getting Personal in Their Music, Injustice and More | Hip-Hop Moments of Clarity, XXL
+ Yung Miami of City Girls Says JT's Incarceration Is 'A Minor Setback for a Major Comeback', Complex