Saweetie had always had a passion for songwriting and rapping. She would create music while on her long drives to college where she was commuting two hours to the University of Southern California. “I would play a beat, and I would write in my notes as I was driving,” she told the Daily Trojan. 

After graduating from USC in 2016, she started to work on her music more to try and make it an actual living for herself. It was in May 2017 when her life completely turned upside down. She had posted a simple, freestyle video of her performing her song "ICY Girl" (which is a rap over the beat of Khia’s “My Neck, My Back”) and you can probably guess what happened next. Yep, it was loved by the internet and went viral.

And because "ICY Girl" was such a hit, she filmed an official music video for it in October 2017. Once that happened, everything just started to fall into place for Saweetie at an incredibly speedy pace, although the fame didn't really happen overnight. "It definitely didn’t happen that quick, and I’ve had this dream since I was 14 years old, so that was a while ago,” she told Billboard. 

Just a few months after the release of the "ICY Girl" music video (that currently has over 100 million views), she was featured in Rihanna's Fenty Beauty ad for the Superbowl in 2018. She signed with acclaimed music label Warner Bros that same month.