Destin Choice Route, known professionally as JID, was born on October 31, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia, specifically Zone 6. The youngest of seven children, he earned his stage name from his grandmother's nickname for his jittery childhood behavior. After playing football at Hampton University and dropping out around 2012, he formed the hip-hop collective Spillage Village with EarthGang in 2010 and began releasing mixtapes like Cakewalk (2010) and DiCaprio EP (2015). JID signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records in 2017, debuting with the album The Never Story that same year, followed by DiCaprio 2 (2018) and The Forever Story (2022). His style features intricate lyricism, fluent rapping, wordplay, and dynamic flows, influenced by 1990s New York hip-hop artists like Jay-Z and Nas, while distancing from trap sounds. He has toured extensively, including headlining the Never Had Shit Tour (2017–18) and Catch Me If You Can Tour (2019), and supporting acts like J. Cole and Logic.