J.I.D Tickets

J.I.D pays his respects yet consciously carves a different path to fellow Atlanta rappers, meticulously sharpening his pen in rapidfire rhymes he peppers with R&B, neo-soul and experimental detours that leave hip-hop fans craving for more.

“I want to be the next no one because I want to be the first of me," J.I.D self-assuredly declared in an interview with XXL Mag back in 2017, as a new signee to J. Cole's Dreamville Records. His excellent first full-length album The Never Story, would follow only a couple of weeks later, driven by lead single ‘NEVER’, an ear-snaggingly ominous chronicle of the MC’s early struggles to forge his future identity. The LP was an impressive exercise in J.I.D's ability to weave through jazz-rap and neo-soul as he narrates his experiences with stunning prowess for his budding career.

Young J.I.D, aka Destin Route’s varied musical tastes were shaped by funk and soul classics and old-school family favourites like Sly and the Family Stone and Earth, Wind & Fire, until the likes of JAY-Z and the New York hip-hop scene established new avenues of sonic connection. Initially focusing on a fledgling football scholarship at Hampton University, he founded the collective Spillage Village with Atlanta duo EarthGang and released his first mixtapes, eventually going full throttle towards music as he got kicked out of college and secured an income with gigs in call centres and pizza delivery.

His first EP, 2015’s Di Caprio, revealed a rapper determined not to hastily join the cream of the East Atlanta trap crop, aspiring instead to bolster the city’s reputation for serious lyrical talent. Topping off his efforts with a lightning-fast flow, he gave a pulse and a voice to another type of Atlanta that had a fresh set of musical stories to tell. Route was on a mission to join the greats from the get-go, and by the release of the resonant, jazz- and soul-inflected The Never Story, there was little doubt left he was on his way.

J.I.D’s second album, Di Caprio 2 followed in 2018, unleashing tracks like ‘Off Deez’, a masterclass in acrobatic Dreamville lyricism addressing criticism alongside J. Cole (a part originally, and startlingly, destined for Kendrick Lamar). He served up collaborative pandemic album Spilligion with fellow Spillage Village members, while collaborations on Doja Cat’s R&B-inflected ‘Options’, and the massive ‘Enemy’, the lead single to Netflix animated series Arcane where he shares credits with poprockers Imagine Dragons, saw the rapper not just expand his scope but also shoot to the top five of Billboard Hot 100.

It all served as a thrilling build-up to his lauded third LP, 2022’s The Forever Story, a back-to-roots study juggling trap and R&B alongside rhymes that boldly exposed its creator’s vulnerabilities, assisted by the likes of 21 Savage and Ari Lennox. Fast forward to 2025, and J.I.D presses reset with God Does Like Ugly, a fourth album addressing both fans and the industry’s obsession with record sales, personal challenges and spirituality while juggling quintessential trap jams and gospel brushstrokes. It’s another step towards enhancing his legacy as one of Atlanta’s most multilayered rappers, taking not just his own but his home city’s oft-overlooked street stories and turning them into hip-hop gold.