JID

Destin Choice Route (born October 31, 1990), better known by his stage name JID (also stylized J.I.D), is an American rapper, singer, producer, and songwriter.

Destin Choice Route was born October 31, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia.

His parents were Carl Louis Route Jr. and Kathy Jean Route.

The youngest of seven children, he adopted the moniker JID from his grandmother's nickname for him based on his "jittery" behavior.

Route grew up listening to Sly and the Family Stone and Earth, Wind & Fire before shifting to the 1990s New York hip-hop scene and rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas and Mobb Deep.

He attended Stephenson High School, where he played football as a defensive back.

During his senior year he dislocated his hip.

He later accepted a full athletic scholarship to play NCAA Division I football at Hampton University, Route was redshirted his first year of eligibility and then played two seasons before he was kicked from the team for skipping practices.

Route eventually moved in with Doctur Dot and Johnny Venus, a popular rap duo with the stage name EarthGang who he met while at school in Virginia.

He formed the musical collective Spillage Village with EarthGang in 2010, and later formed the hip hop group, Zoink Gang with Smino, Buddy, and Guapdad 4000.

His fluent rapping style and usage of wordplay has been highly acclaimed by several music critics.

JID released his first mixtape Cakewalk on May 18, 2010.

Earlier that year, he formed Spillage Village with EarthGang, Hollywood JB, and Jordxn Bryant.

He released his second mixtape, Cakewalk 2 on June 29, 2011.

JID gained recognition after releasing several independent projects, including Route of Evil (2012), Para Tu (2013) and DiCaprio (2015).

He released his third mixtape, Route of All Evil on June 25, 2012, with guest features from relatively unheard artists EarthGang and Stillz.

JID funded his music career with jobs at call centers and delivering pizza before he started to get booked for local live shows.

On October 22, 2013, his next mixtape was released titled Para Tu.

In 2014, he opened up with EarthGang and Bas on Ab-Soul's These Days Tour following the release of Spillage Village's first collaboration project, Bears Like This.

On January 26, 2015, he released his first extended play DiCaprio EP.

On July 6, Spillage Village released their second collaboration project Bears Like This Too.

He also toured with Omen on the Elephant Eyes Tour and Bas on the Too High to Riot Tour.

On December 2, 2016, Spillage Village released Bears Like This Too Much with features from J. Cole and Bas, and production from Mac Miller, Ducko Mcfli, Childish Major and J. Cole among others.

Born and raised in Atlanta, he signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscope Records in 2017.

His debut studio album, The Never Story (2017) was met with critical acclaim and contained the single "Never".

The mixtape was later re-released on December 29, 2017.

On February 20, 2017, it was announced that he had signed to J. Cole's Dreamville label, first releasing the single "Never".

The full-length album, The Never Story was released on March 10, 2017.

The album includes guest features from EarthGang, 6lack, and Mereba, and production from J. Cole, Hollywood JB, Christo and Childish Major, among others.

He later released three more music videos from the album: "D/vision", "Hereditary", and "EdEddnEddy".

He was also an opening act on the 4 Your Eyez Only Tour in 2017 in the North American and European legs.

On October 10, JID appeared alongside rappers Cozz, Kodie Shane and Ali Tomineek in a cypher at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

In November 2017, JID co-headlined in his Never Had Shit Tour with EarthGang, and guests Lute, Chaz French, and Mereba.

His second album, DiCaprio 2 (2018) was supported by the singles "151 Rum" and "Off Deez" (with J. Cole), and saw continued critical acclaim.

His 2021 single, "Enemy" (with Imagine Dragons) peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains his highest-charting song.

His third album, The Forever Story (2022) received further acclaim and peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200; it spawned the top 40 single "Surround Sound" (featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate).

It included 15 dates in North America, and continued in 2018, with 19 dates in Europe.

On December 13, JID appeared on a remix with Foster The People and Saba called "Pay The Man".

In June 2018, he was featured on the cover of ''XXL's 2018 Freshman Class.

In July, he was featured on Denzel Curry's "Sirens" from Ta13oo'', and was announced he would go on tour with Mac Miller and Thundercat.