Jatavia Shakara Johnson Biography: Who Is JT from City Girls?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson is a rapper known as JT, the one half of the hip-hop duo City Girls, a popular two-member music group. She is an American rap artist from Miami, Florida.

The female rapper, who goes by the stage name JT, is also a regular face on social media and often uses her influence and popularity to promote and market other brands, movements, and campaigns.

The bold and unapologetic rapper whose style of rapping is mostly southern rap and trap has to her credit over 24 hit songs, plus several unreleased recordings and projects in her archive. Jatavia is also known to be very controversial and engaging with her fans on social media. This has made the female rap artist a favorite of fans and more are beginning to make inquiries about her.

Summary of Jatavia Shakara Johnson’s Bio

  • Full Name: Jatavia Shakara Johnson
  • Nickname: JT
  • Gender: Female
  • Date of Birth: December 3rd, 1992
  • Jatavia Johnson’s Age: 32 years old
  • Ethnicity: African-American
  • Nationality: American
  • Sexual Orientation: Straight
  • Religion: Christianity
  • Marital Status: Single
  • Jatavia Shakara Johnson’s Height in Inches:  5 feet 4 Inches
  • Jatavia Shakara Johnson’s Net Worth: Over 2.5 million US dollars
  • Famous for: The second member of City Girls
  • Jatavia Johnson’s Instagram: @thegirljt
  • Twitter: @ThegirlJT

How Old is Jatavia Shakara Johnson?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson is 32 years old as of 2024. She was born on December 3, 1992, in Miami, Florida. The identity of her parents has not been revealed. However, words have it that she is the oldest of her mother’s 3 children. She spent one part of her childhood living with her mother and the other with her father and step-siblings.

Jatavia Had a Rough Childhood

The American female artist who had a hard time growing up made it known that her mother was a drug addict and never paid attention to the needs of her and her siblings. Jatavia moved to live with her father in Opa-Locka and Liberty City, Miami, after her parents got separated.

Living with her father wasn’t much different from living with her mother, as both communities were alike in a lot of ways. JT got into a lot of trouble as a teenager. She attended a high school, and through a network of friends, she got connected to and became friends with Caresha Brownlee, also known as Yung Miami. The duo would go on to form a music group called City Girls.

At the age of 17, Jatavia started to dance and perform at strip halls, nightclubs, and block parties alongside her friend Yung Miami. They never made any attempt to attend college as they both followed the music.

Her Rough Upbringing Pushed Her into Music and was a Stepping Stone For Her Success

Jatavia’s early life had a huge impact on her becoming a rapper. As a kid, she had to experience many dysfunctionalities in her family. Unlike many who end up being either shy or reserved due to similar circumstances, JT turned out to be a very bold and outspoken person. She would often use her personal life experiences as inspiration for the content of her music.

Her bold nature led her to dance in strip clubs and nightclubs. She isn’t a shy dancer and not a shy dresser as well. Aside from dancing in strip clubs and nightclubs, Jatavia and her friend would also attend block parties to compete in rap battles and perform songs they had made together.

At the start, it was just a means to earn some money. However, she was getting noticed, and her fan base was growing. Jatavia Shakara loves to dance and rap but never had an interest in singing, but her friend and music partner, Yung Miami, encouraged her into it. After doing a lot of gigs together, they formed the music group City Girls and started making more songs in their teens.

City Girls Launched in 2017

Her musical journey began in 2017. After forming the group City Girls with the influence of Yung Miami, they were encouraged to record a song following a dispute JT had with some groups. To make the song, they bought a beat from a friend who is a producer – the beat is a sample of Khia Shamone Finch’s 2002 hit song, “My Neck, My Back”, and then together with Yung Miami, went back to her father’s in-house studio and recorded a diss track.

They titled the song “F**k Dat Nigga” and dedicated it to their ex-boyfriends for not providing for their needs. To their bewilderment, the track started to gain popularity and much airplay, and it became a starting point of something serious in their music career. The events that followed would see them signing a record deal with a record label called Quality Control Music.

In 2018, to compliment the popularity of their single track ‘F**k that Nigga, they made a video for the song. The video, which had hip-hop star DJ Khalid make a guest appearance, quickly went viral and has garnered over 3 million YouTube views to this day. This opened doors to many collaborations with top hip-hop artists such as Drake, Lil Baby, Cardi B, and Jacquees.

JT’s City Girls gained global attention after making an uncredited guest appearance on Drake’s music video for the song In My Feelings shot on the 23rd of July 2018 in New Orleans. Only Yung Miami appeared in the video, as JT was in prison when the video was shot. Drake showed his support to her by getting a number of the dancers in the video to wear jackets and T-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘Free JT’ and images of JT.

JT’s Discography with City Girls

Jatavia Johnson has been producing music together with her City Girls’ partner, Yung Miami, from the year the group was formed. They have recorded and released over 58 songs with 14 hits and 3 studio albums to their names. Here is a list of her discography;

Studio Albums

Hit Songs

  • Fu*k Dat Ni**a (2017)
  • Leave Em Alone (2019)
  • Twerk (2019)
  • JT First Day Out (2019)
  • Said Sum (2020)

The Florida Native is Widely Popular on Social Media, and She Uses Various Platforms To Promote Her Brand and Music

With her music career seemingly blooming, JT has one medium that has played a significant role in the quick growth and popularity of her music, brand, and personality: Social Media. JT is popularly known to be a social media influencer and boasts of having millions of followers on both Instagram and Twitter.

But the fact remains that her career wouldn’t have quickly grown this far without the aid of social media. Controversies get the interest of millions of people across the world, and JT isn’t one that is shy of being controversial. However, being very smart, the City Girls member found a way to channel her popularity on social media into working for her and her music.

Apart from promoting her brand, music, and works, she has also influenced and promoted several products and brands using her role as an influencer. Some of these brands include Bottega Veneta by Daniel Lee Rick Owens, Dior, Hermes, Emilio, Tracy, Emilio Pucci, and Body By Raven Tracy.

Top music artists, music, and video producers have used her influence on social media to promote their new songs, videos, or a particular campaign or movement. An example would be Drake’s ‘In My Feelings’, which saw dancers in the song’s video wearing clothes carrying “Free JT” inscriptions. The video has more than 230 million views on YouTube.

The Rapper Did Time in Prison For Identity Theft and Fraud Crimes

Jatavia Johnson
Jatavia Johnson

Jatavia Johnson has been involved in several controversial issues that have landed her in trouble with both individuals and the law. Because she finds a way to make these controversies and issues work for her good, many are beginning to believe that those issues are deliberate acts and stunts she makes in order to gather popularity and following.

Whatever the case may be, some of them got too real that she had to pay for it by serving prison time. In 2017, the City Girls member was arrested for charges of alleged identity theft and crime relating to fraudulent credit card crimes. Convicted of the offense, she was given a 24-month prison sentence at FCI Tallahassee after reaching a plea bargain.

As part of her plea bargain, after serving the first two years of her time, JT was moved to a halfway house in Atlanta, where she remained until the day of her final release in March 2020. While at the Atlanta house, JT was allowed to work and also get visits from friends and family, but only during the day. During this period, she worked on and released the song ‘First Day Out‘ with her partner, Yung Miami, to celebrate her release.

Jatavia has also been involved in several troubles with individuals and celebrities alike both physically and on social media. A recent scenario saw the City Girls member share her truth following an altercation that left a 12-year-old fan’s mom crying. JT had publicly come out to defend herself after the child’s mom, April Bailey, had shared a video accusing JT of bullying her child. According to JT, the mother was trying to blackmail her for some money. 

She Speaks Openly About Her Relationship Life

Jatavia Johnson has not been involved with a lot of lovers like most celebrities do, but she has been loud about it, unlike many who keep theirs away from the public. Her current known boyfriend is a 29 year-old American rapper, singer, and songwriter Symere Bysil Woods, who goes by the stage name Lil Uzi Vert.

 

JT and Lil Uzi Vert have been in a relationship since 2019. They started dating exactly after JT’s release from her prison sentence. However, JT has come out to say they had been dating before her release. On several occasions, the Miami Superstar has taken to social media to profess her love and admiration for Uzi Vert on how good a man he is.

In a particular interview she granted, JT explained how, on one occasion, Uzi Vert came to see her bearing gifts while she was still in the Halfway House. In her words, Uzi Vert came with a bag full of money and asked her to take as much as she could, but she had a little bag and could only fit in 30k, and she was not happy with herself. In his effort to confirm the relationship, Lil Uzi Vert has made it known that he would do anything for her.

Before Uzi, Jatavia confirmed that she was in a relationship with Lil Yatchy and they were together right until her incarceration. The affairs ended after she was locked up as her ex-boyfriend didn’t care to visit or write while she was away. JT made this known moment after her release in an Instagram live session with her friends.

The Singer is Alleged to Have Been Pregnant at two Different Periods in Her Career 

The lifestyles of celebrities have often been topics for rumors and speculations amongst fans and followers on mainstream and social media. On one occasion or two, many celebrities have been topical issues in heated arguments or debates about their private lives and works. Jatavia Johnson has had her own personal life brought into scrutiny by the public when she was alleged to be pregnant on two occasions.

The news of JT’s alleged pregnancy first surfaced in the summer of 2019. It was rumored that a prison guard had impregnated her, and she was taken to solitary confinement for refusing to reveal the guard’s identity. The rumor that proliferated the social media affirmed that she was four months pregnant. Though JT made no comment on the issue, her partner, Yung Miami, came out to deny the rumor about the pregnancy.

In September 2021, the City Girls rapper was yet again the subject of another pregnancy rumor, which had it that she could be carrying Lil Uzi Vert’s baby. JT got the internet buzzing after being spotted on the Merriweather Post Pavilion stage in Columbia, Maryland, rocking a tight jumpsuit that brought out her curves and a protruded belly. Some fans quickly took to social media to analyze her looks and suggest she could be pregnant.

While she got the applause of some fans, if it turns out to be true, JT got backlash from others who didn’t like the idea of her carrying Uzi Vert’s baby. The Miami-born rapper, who isn’t shy about saying her piece of mind, took to her social media account to deny the rumors and advised fans not to say something they are not sure of.

Jatavia Johnson’s Height is 5 Feet and Has No History of Undergoing Plastic Surgery

Many fans and followers of celebrities go to the lengths to know more about their favorite artists, music, or movie stars. Features like body figures, shape, height, weight, hair, and eye colors are mostly what some fans look out for. Others could be the clothing designers they wear, shoes, and sometimes, they go as far as sorting out the perfumes they use.

Jatavia Johnson is 5 feet 4 inches (1.65 meters) tall, placing her on the same height levels as rappers such as Cardi B and Nicky Minaj but not as tall as Houston, Texas female rap artist Megan Thee Stallion, who stands at 1.78m, which is 5 feet 8 inches tall.

The African American black beauty has no problem showing off her sexy and curvy looks. It has never been reported that she has ever attempted an augmentation of her body. On several occasions, JT has promoted brands and companies that are mostly into clothes and beauty products.

Her natural hair color is dark, though she most times dyes them to particular colors to fit her outfit. It’s usually difficult to get the colors of the eyes of celebrities because they often use contact lenses a lot. However, we could say Jatavia Johnson has dark eyes.

FAQs

Who is Jatavia Shakara Johnson?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson is an American rap artist from Miami, Florida famous as JT, who is the one-half of the hip-hop duo City Girls, a popular two-member music group.

What is Jatavia Shakara Johnson’s Age?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson is 32 years old as of 2024. She was born on December 3, 1992, in Miami, Florida.

Where is Jatavia Shakara Johnson from?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson is from Miami, Florida where she spent her early childhood. She later moved to Opa-Locka and Liberty City, Miami, to live with her father.

What is JT’s Real Name?

JT’s real name is Jatavia Shakara Johnson but she is better known by her stage name JT.

How Did JT Meet Caresha?

Caresha, also known as Yung Miami, is the other half of the City Girls group. Jatavia met her through a network of family and friends.

Why Did Jatavia Shakara Go To Jail?

JT was convicted of identity theft and credit card fraud on June 29, 2018 and spent some time in Florida prison, having received a two-year prison sentence.

How Tall is Jatavia Shakara Johnson?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson’s height is 5 feet 4 inches. She is not very tall, even though she might appear to be when wearing heels.

When was Jatavia Shakara Johnson Released?

JT was released officially from federal custody on the 7th of March 2020 after spending some time behind bars.

What is Jatavia Shakara Johnson’s Net Worth?

Jatavia Shakara Johnson has an estimated net worth of $2 million 2024. Most of her net worth comes from her music career and social media efforts.

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