The group's name derives from the pair being from Opa-locka, Florida and Liberty City (Miami), described by Complex magazine as "two of the roughest neighborhoods in Miami, Florida".^[5]

2017: Early beginningsEdit

The duo recorded their debut studio track, "Fuck Dat Nigga", which was a diss track towards their ex-boyfriends for not giving them money when they asked.^[2] Yung Miami promoted it through social media and by paying DJs to play it in clubs. Soon the track, which features a prominent sample of fellow Florida rapper Khia's "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)", racked up hundreds of thousands of plays.^[6] The official music video for the song came out in January 2018 and featured an appearance from rapper Trina. Later that year, the track was included in Quality Control's compilation album, Control the Streets, Volume 1.^[2]

2018–2019: Period, Girl Code, and breakthroughEdit

Shortly after the release of "Fuck Dat Nigga", JT was arrested and charged with aggravated identity theft, and was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. The judge eventually agreed to push back her surrender date.^[7] JT began her prison term in July 2018 and was set to be released on March 1, 2020.^[8] While JT was incarcerated, Yung Miami continued to promote the group's music, by saying: "When she was in jail, I was going to strip clubs and I would pay a DJ 20 dollars to play the song. It started taking off."^[6]

After signing to Quality Control Music, the duo were ranked as the most popular developing artists of the week, according to the measuring activity across Billboard charts Hot 100, the Social 50, and Billboard 200.^[9] In May 2018, the City Girls released their debut mixtape, Period, which reached No. 16 on Heatseekers Albums the same month.^[9][10] Period also ranked 26th on Rolling Stone's 30 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2018.^[11] In July 2018, the duo were launched into mainstream recognition after an uncredited feature on Drake's "In My Feelings", with Yung Miami appearing in the music video.^[12][13] In August 2018, they released the documentary, Point Blank Period.^[14]

In November 2018, City Girls released their debut studio album, Girl Code, which features vocals from Cardi B, Lil Baby and Jacquees.^[15] The album debuted at no. 63 on the Billboard 200 chart issued December 1, 2018.^[16] The two singles from the album, "Twerk", featuring fellow rapper Cardi B, and "Act Up", peaked at no. 29 and no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.^[17][18][19] JT was transferred to a halfway house on October 8, 2019, 5 months before her scheduled release.

2020–present: City on Lock and other releasesEdit

In September 2019, Yung Miami confirmed to Ebro Darden on Apple Music's Beats 1 that the duo planned on recording a new album, expecting to release it early in 2020.^[20] On June 19, 2020, City Girls' second studio album, titled City on Lock, leaked in its entirety online.^[21] JT announced hours later that the album would be released at midnight of the same day.^{[22][non-primary source needed]} The album's first single, "Jobs", was released hours before the album alongside a music video.^[23] The album includes guest appearances from Yo Gotti, Doja Cat, Lil Durk and Lil Baby. In March 2021, their viral unreleased song "Twerkulator" amassed popularity on social media application TikTok, after 20-year-old dancer Layla Muhammad choreographed a dance for the song. The song had since been used over 1,100,000 times on the platform, with creators such as Charli D'Amelio and Malu Trevejo performing the dance; however, despite this viral restore, the song remained unreleased as the basis contains a sample from "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force, which was yet to be cleared.^[24][25] On May 21, 2021, "Twerkulator" was officially released.^[26]

On October 29, 2021, Yung Miami released her debut solo single, "Rap Freaks", alongside its music video. A sex-positive track , it sees her reference various rappers, including Megan Thee Stallion, Diddy, and Meek Mill. Miami explained that "the song is showing love to all the rappers right now, it's nothing personal. I [named] a bunch of the guys who are on top, that's hot, that's poppin'. Nothing is personal, nothing is literal, I’m just having fun".^[27] The song debuted and peaked at 81 on Billboard Hot 100, becoming Miami’s first entry as a solo artist.^[28]