Born and raised in East Atlanta, Grammy nominated J.I.D grew up on his parents' collection of classic funk/soul LPs, and broke onto the scene with his 2015 EP, DiCaprio. The EP saw him collaborating with hip-hop duo EARTHGANG, whom he'd previously joined on a 2014 tour also including Bas and Ab-Soul. This is where he was spotted by J. Cole who promptly signed J.I.D to his Interscope Records venture, Dreamville Records. Soon after signing to Dreamville, J.I.D made his major-label debut with the widely celebrated The Never Story (2017), which featured the signature singles "Underwear" and "Never."