Background and career
Caresha Romeka Brownlee (born February 11, 1994), better known by her stage name Yung Miami, is an American rapper. She formed the Miami, Florida-based hip hop duo City Girls with JT in 2017, and began her solo career in 2021. Released in October of that year, her single "Rap Freaks" marked her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo act. She guest performed alongside Latto on the remix of Lola Brooke's 2021 single, "Don't Play with It", which peaked at number 69 on the chart.
Yung Miami was born and raised in Miami, Florida, growing up in Opa-locka. At 22, she was performing in strip clubs, night clubs and block parties. Yung Miami said that she loved trap music from a young age, and told Rolling Stone, "My little boyfriend used to take me to school every day, so I grew up listening to a lot of trap music." Before rapping, Yung Miami was an Instagram influencer who promoted her own fashion line selling clothes and other items. She met JT, where they formed the duo City Girls. 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. In a September 2024 podcast interview, Yung Miami states that she considers herself an entertainer, leveraging "rap" as a segue into the entertainment industry.
The City Girls released their debut mixtape, Period, in May 2018. In July 2018, the duo were launched into mainstream recognition after an uncredited feature on Drake's "In My Feelings." In November 2018, the City Girls released their debut album, which included features from Cardi B, Lil Baby and Jacquees. On June 19, 2020, City Girls's second studio album, City on Lock, leaked in its entirety online. JT announced hours later that the album would be released at midnight of the same day. The album's first single, "Jobs", was released hours before the album alongside a music video. City Girls released their last album, RAW (Real Ass Whores) in 2023, and separated soon after.
Since Caresha Please debuted in 2022, the podcast episodes have accumulated over 50 million views collectively on YouTube.
On June 9, 2022, Yung Miami released the first episode of her podcast Caresha Please on Revolt TV and multiple media streaming platforms. Since then, she has interviewed a number of celebrities and musicians, such as Megan Thee Stallion, Summer Walker, Kevin Gates, Trina and more. In 2022, "Caresha Please" and another Revolt show called "Drink Champs" tied for the award of "Best Hip Hop Platform" at the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards. This decision upset many critics, with some feeling that her win was undeserved, given that at the time she had only released five episodes. On October 10, 2023, Yung Miami won the "Best Hip Hop Platform" award at 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards, defeating the other platforms in her category, such as "Million Dollarz Worth of Game", "The Joe Budden Podcast" and "Drink Champs". The win was criticized as being undeserved. Whilst on The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne tha God shared his thoughts on the win, questioning if it was "sponsored by Deleon", implying that the awards may have been fixed by Diddy. Yung Miami appeared as a guest on The Breakfast Club on October 26, 2023, where both her and Charlamagne discussed the comments that he made. Yung Miami defended her win saying "Don't discredit me. I work hard. [...] I deserve everything that's coming to me."
On August 8, 2024, Yung Miami released the first episode of the second season of Caresha Please. In this episode, she had Saucy Santana, her best friend and occasional co-host, interview her. During the interview, she addressed her relationship with Sean (Diddy) Combs, announced their break-up, and also addressed her relationship with group member JT, stating that things between them are "not all good, but it's not all bad". In the interview, Yung Miami also discussed how both situations took a toll on her mental health, and revealed that she is a two-time domestic abuse survivor, though she was not a victim of Combs. This first episode of Caresha Please, garnered over a million views within the first day of its release. In season 2, she interviewed celebrities and artists such as rapper Flo Milli, singer Mariah the Scientist, and rapper and business mogul Rick Ross.
