JT Will Always Be A City Girl, Even In Her Solo Era

 

2024 has been a year of rebirth for JT.

After the last City Girls album, RAW, failed to perform to expectations, JT and Yung Miami decided to take a break from the group and develop their artistry as individuals. JT went to work first, putting out her solo debut mixtape, City Cinderella, last month.

The tape showcases the many different sides of JT that you wouldn’t always get on a City Girl album. This is seen, in particular, on the introspective “Intro (Hope)” where she raps about the trials and tribulations of growing up in the Yams. Other highlights include “Uncle Al,” where she taps into her Miami roots by sampling DJ Uncle Al’s “Mix It Up,” and the project’s first single “Okay” which set the nightlife scene on fire for months at the beginning of this year.

“I just wanted to put out a project that defines me and identifies me as a solo artist because it's like, you get a time where everybody going to be starting to sound the same,” JT told Complex. “I'd rather you hate it and know it's me than love it because it sound like somebody else.”

With “Okay,” JT took a get-it-out-the-mud approach. She went on a brief club tour where she performed at different nightlife venues across the country to work the tracks. Going from arena concerts to smaller capacity spaces wasn’t easy because of the negativity she experienced online when the videos would pop up. But she said putting her ego to the side was important.

“It was hard at first and I was getting sick when I first started the big promo tour,” she said. “It is a huge part of the start-over, but I was getting sick. There were shootouts, people shooting, people were fighting, and it was like, ‘Oh my God.’ But it made me feel human again to touch people. It made me feel again and I was like, ‘Damn, I really have people that really fuck with me.’”

When talking about the City Girls, JT still references her time with the group in the present tense, implying that the duo are on more of a pause then being completely dissolved. JT recognizes that the City Girls will always be a part of her musical identity and she has no problems with that. “I'm like Tina Turner, I’m still a City Girl. I need my name,” she said. “That's the biggest thing about me, I can't ever get away from being a City Girl.”

Complex talked to JT about her debut solo mixtape, City Cinderella, the conversation with Yung Miami to pursue her solo career, what success looks like to her, and more.

You said in your City Cinderella documentary that you wanted to use this project to prove that you’re not just an artist that can make dope verses, but entire songs and bodies of work. Why was that an important label for you to shed on this mixtape?

I feel like we are starting to become more of single artists because of fast platforms. So I just wanted, with this project, to be able to not go exactly for that, but something you can just listen to and ride to and understand more.

You’re all about learning from experience. I think back to you learning how to drive because your friend Quanita would let you drive her car and you figured it out as you went. How does that relate to you initially getting into rap and learning how to craft verses?

I always was good at verses and I'm still learning as I go in terms of how to really create songs. This was my first time really sitting there putting together whole songs, but I feel like I did great and I feel like it was so me. So it's only up from here with experimenting more with different beats and sounds and the tones of my voice. I hate to hear myself too loud. I hate to hear anybody too loud, but I could tolerate other people too loud. But sometimes when I hear myself too loud, I cringe. So just pushing my vocals a little more.

I like how in your The Making of City Cinderella doc you said you weren’t ashamed of performing at all the clubs pushing your singles a few months ago.

Outside of the promo tour, I really don't go out. I'm an introvert. I'm always home. I literally live nice as fuck. Everything is just clean all the time, so when I went on the club tour, it was like going back to day one with all of this money. I had to put my ego aside, being in a glamorous situation I'm in, but having to take a step back to rebrand my career and start everything over. It was hard at first and I was getting sick when I first started the big promo tour. It is a huge part of the start-over, but I was getting sick. There were shootouts… people were fighting and it was like, “Oh my God.” But it made me feel human again to touch people. It made me feel again and I was like, “Damn, I really have people that really fuck with me.” And I think that we sit on social media all day and a lot of people that support you is not on social media. They probably have it, but they're not on it as much as the normal teenager or the normal stan account. So it was good for me, I really appreciated

How did it feel to see “Okay” become a club anthem?

I love “Okay.” I would say it was my mainstream entrance because “No Bars”... is a street record. Everybody in the streets loves “No Bars,” and people mainstream too. But it's just like if you're hip. And then “Sideways” was kind of like the bridge, a cool little vibe. But then “Okay” came and was like, “OK, this is going to be a song that you can perform everywhere and they'll know what it is.” Of course not nowhere near as big as what records I'm going for and I am going to end my career with, but it's my first big record I can say.

Do you feel any added pressure to perform well?

I just wanted to be myself. I feel like this project will only bring me people that's supposed to be with me. I wasn't trying to be accepted by anybody who's not for me. I don't want nobody to get it confused and expect shit that's not of me. If I have to go back and do this again, I know I can do this with my eyes closed because it's me. But my next project is not going to sound nothing like this. So it's like cherish it because it's only going to get different and better and experimental as it go. But I just wanted to put out a project that defines me and identifies me as a solo artist because it's like you get a time where everybody going to be starting to sound the same. I'd rather you hate it and know it's me than love it because it sound like somebody else.

Walk me through how City Cinderella went from an EP to your debut mixtape.

I just kept recording. I didn't notice I had that many songs recorded until I started writing them down on the board. I wasn't counting, I was just creating. So when it was kind of like, “Let's write these songs down, let's name them.” And when we started writing 'em down on the board, I'm looking at myself, I'm like, “Damn, I'm about to take some of them off.” I had to scrap some of the songs because it was too many. And that goes to show me that it was a walk in the park. I had fun. I wasn't under pressure where it felt like it was hard for me to create these songs.

If City CInderella is your debut mixtape, have you started working on your debut solo album yet?

Well, I don't want to say it because I don't want nobody to steal it. But it's going to be totally different from this and I already named it. I already really thought about it.

You’re really open and honest on the intro. Were there aspects of your story that you felt like you weren’t able to tell when you were in a group that you’re able to now?

I wouldn’t say that because if you listen to “Survive,” “Rap Shit,” I tell it in all aspects. I always been trying to be a storyteller in my music. So I think that what makes [the intro] stand out is a whole song of it. But I've done it before.

My favorite song on the tape is “Star of the Show,” and on it you talk about focusing on your wellness. You talked to Angie Martinez last year about looking for a therapist. How has that search been going?

I found a therapist, it did not work [laughs]. I just wasn't feeling it. I didn't feel a connection. I feel like I need to be sitting down in the office with somebody. It was over the phone and I didn't feel a connection.

How did you see beyond the stigma that many people usually have when it comes to starting therapy?

Because my friend had passed away. I was going through a lot of things at that time and then sometimes you just need somebody who doesn’t know you to talk to get their point of view or their advice. Just talk about it and express yourself in a way that you wouldn't usually express yourself to anybody else. I think therapy is very important, especially for people of color. I think that we shoot it down so much. Like me for example, I need to hold myself accountable. I always had a therapist when I was a kid because I was in the system so I had a therapist that used to come to the school and home and all of that. But once I got older, I don't have that shit no more.But I feel like we need to know that we can access those things and it is a resource for us and it is needed. That's why we got so many people on the internet crashing out every day, because they don't feel seen and heard. So we need to step back and go to therapy or find somebody to talk to because it's the internet is not the place for you to come and attack people because you're not feeling seen and heard at home. And I think that's what it is because thats what I used to do. I used to be home just feeling like an orphan and it'd just be like, “Well let me go on this app where I feel like it's a bunch of people with me and I don't feel alone here and I could just act out.” So I think that a lot of these kids and adults need therapy.

You said in your doc that you and Caresha mutually decided to pursue solo careers. What was that conversation like?

I think it made sense for both of us. I really feel like it just made sense for us and it was no hard feelings. I'm like Tina Turner, I’m still a City Girl. I need my name. That's the biggest thing about me, I can't ever get away from being a City Girl. A person going to call me that no matter where I'm at. It is just like “JT from the City Girls.” But I feel like it just made so much sense for both of us in the direction that we was going and things that we were focusing on. It wasn't no hard feelings about it, we saw it coming.

Do you feel any pressure to match the cultural impact the City Girls have had on rap with your solo career now?

I'm just taking it one day at a time. I am not trying to beat myself because I am the City Girls. I am a part of the City Girls. That's not my goal. I'm trying to just be me and create new moments and new memories and be myself. And when I do it and when I put my [album] out, it’s not meant to be received by people who don't want to receive it. It's just me being me.

What is the biggest misconception about you? What do people get wrong?

They get everything wrong about me, but we don't have much time here on earth to be explaining ourself. We just got to keep going.

When did you stop caring how people perceive you?

Because they don't give a fuck anyways. They already got what they made up in their head and I'm going to turn blue in the face trying to explain myself and who I am or why I'm reacting. I'm never starting shit, I don't care to start shit. But when I react, that's when the problems kick in. I can't make them change their mind. It is up to them to meet me, if ever, or to just understand, which they probably would never.

What does success look like to you now at this point of your career?

Just being in a place of comfort and knowing myself and feeling good. Money is money, we all need money. Money makes me happy, but besides money, just being happy and waking up feeling happy and going to sleep feeling happy, that's success. A lot of people don't have that inner-peace, and I have that. So that's success to me, because I am a chaotic bitch. But at this point in my life, I feel like a feather.