Her chorus created a viral Metro Boomin song. Now, she’s ready for her close-up.

In mid-August at the Hills Park location of Structure 19, the new creative hub and headquarters of Atlanta label and management company Sincethe80s, Breskii’s disarming energy belies her budding fame. And not only because she’s wearing black comfy joggers and a tank top.

Instead, there’s a sincere quality about her demeanor that’s palpable even before she utters a word.

“Is this going to be in the paper?” she asks at the start of our conversation, to which I kindly clarify that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution no longer has a print product.

“Oh, that’s OK,” she assures as if she’s comforting a child. “My momma and daddy wouldn’t even believe this is happening to me.”

Last year, Atlanta rapper Breskii, whose real name is Breonna Cody, helped turn Metro Boomin's "Take Me Thru Dere" into a hit song. (Courtesy of Sincethe80s)

Within the past year, thanks to a guest appearance on Metro Boomin’s “Take Me Thru Dere,” Breskii has skyrocketed from being a local fixture to Billboard, American Music Award and BET Award recognition. Now, she’s ready for her own spotlight with a forthcoming debut project, even amid battling overwhelming grief for the community that helped get her there.

“My mama was gone, my daddy mama was gone, my mama mama was gone, and my daddy was just there with me,” Breskii said. “Then my daddy got killed, so I was in a dark space.”

Becoming Breskii

Born Breonna Cody, Breskii grew up in southeast Atlanta, primarily in the Thomasville Heights Section 8 apartment homes formerly known as Four Seasons (later named Forest Cove before being demolished in 2024). She’s the oldest of three children by her mom and the fourth oldest of 10 children by her dad.

Her father (Markell Cody aka “Shawty Giant,” a prominent figure in Atlanta’s nightlife) was incarcerated for most of her childhood, so she lived with her mother (Andrea Smith) and two brothers.

“We were just outside, just making some out of nothing,” the 35-year-old said of her upbringing. “Like even if we had like a milk crate, we’d just put that on the ground and stand on it and start shooting a basketball.”

But Breskii assures that neither of her parents made her sense any signs of poverty: “I ain’t feel like I always had to be in survival mode, but I felt like I needed to know how to survive in case something happened.”

She applied that quite literally as a preteen, attending four middle schools (including the former Walden Middle School) after getting in trouble for fighting. She felt judged for having lighter skin.

“They always used to be like, ‘Oh, you think you all that,’ but they never gave me a chance to see how my personality was. So I was like, oh, now I’m finna defend myself, whether I gotta hit you with a brick, stab you with a pencil, anything.”

Breskii's upcoming debut EP is titled "Mrs. 404," which reflects her unyielding love for her hometown: "It's not 'M-I-S-S,' it's 'M-R-S,'" she pointedly noted. (Courtesy of Sincethe80s)

In high school (at Southside, now Maynard Jackson High School, and Banneker), she’d split her time with both parents following her dad’s 10-year stint in prison. Outside of her rapper brothers (Jose Guapo and B Shot), music — or anything else, for that matter — never really appealed to her. Save for a brief stint in cheerleading and reading Sister Souljah novels, Breskii didn’t grow up having hobbies.

As a child, her dad, in an attempt to make money, tried forming a rap group with her and her sisters, but the attempt was short-lived.

“I felt like my daddy was on his Joe Jackson stuff,” Breskii said bluntly. “I let that go.”

Breskii described her post-high school life as “just trying to figure herself out,” knowing that she didn’t want to pursue college nor work for anyone else.

The vagueness of her response made me pry a bit deeper.

So how were you figuring things out after high school?

“Like just being outside, hustling.”

So like being in the streets?

“Yeah, in the streets.”

Like selling drugs?

“No, not selling drugs. I kind of had boyfriends who’d take care of me. I guess you can call it like a house girlfriend.”

Atlanta rapper Breskii attends the 2026 BET Awards in Los Angeles, California, where she was nominated for best collaboration. (Courtesy of Sincethe80s)

At 21, she gave birth to a son. When talking more about raising her child, Breskii offered a deeper explanation of her goals at the time — or lack thereof.

“All my focus went to him,” she said about her son, who’s now 14 and plays football. “Like, let me get him active at three years old. That’s why I probably didn’t want to do nothing (when I was younger). You see what I’m saying? Cause maybe my parents didn’t have the time. They had so many kids to focus on.”

Taking everyone ‘thru dere’

Shortly after, a six-year period of incessant loss obliterated her life. Her mom died of liver cancer in 2019. Later that year, her paternal grandma died. In October 2024, her maternal grandma died. A month later, on Thanksgiving, her dad was fatally shot.

All of that was weighing on her last year when her sister suggested she hang out at a studio where Metro Boomin (whom Breskii knows through mutual friends) was recording his “A Futuristic Summa” mixtape.

“(My sister) was saying it like this (project) is for the real Atlanta, and (Metro) want the real Atlanta. I was like, OK. She like, that’s you. You real Atlanta. I was like, but I’m not a rapper. She like, he don’t even care.”

She recorded a chorus on “Butterflies (Right Now),” which features Roscoe Dash and Quavo. Breskii returned to the studio the next day, not knowing her having fun in the room would turn into another, more potent, hook on a better song.

“I was really just vibing and dancing. We had taken a shot, so I was just feeling out the energy. I was looking left and right, and I was just like, ‘Take me through there, take me through there.’ Everybody turned around, and Metro told me to go record that.”

Breskii was supposed to have a longer verse on the track, which features Quavo and YK Niece. But another death crushed her plans: her brother (rapper B Shot) also died from gun violence last June.

“Forget the song,” she remembers feeling at the moment, though she understood it was about to be released (Metro Boomin’s mixtape dropped last July; Breskii’s hook remained on it). In turn, “Take Me Thru Dere” is the best song on the project, anchored by Breskii’s infectious chant that sounds like the epitome of a summer block party in the early aughts.

Her Southern accent ruled sublime. Her tone? A rapturous rasp that sounds as if she’d been rapping her entire life.

The chorus has helped push the song to virality, yielding a legion of TikTok dances. “Take Me Thru Dere” peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. Along with BET and American Music Award nominations, Breskii has shared the stage with Usher and YFN Lucci, taking the entire world “thru dere.”

Now, she’s gearing up to release her debut project, aptly titled “Mrs. 404.” In the spring, she signed with Sincethe80s and is co-managed by Barry “Heffner” Johnson and Jennifer Goicoechea Raymond (who also serves as an A&R executive for Epic Records). In May, she dropped “Sexxy,” a self-empowerment anthem that further showcases Breskii’s innate ability to transform the simplest of phrases into a grand party that you want to be invited to.

“In some artists, there are the artistic ones, and then there are the ones that are just stars within their own personality,” said Johnson.

“We just really saw something special and wanted to see her win,” Goicoechea Raymond added, noting that the community support built around her helped solidify the signing.

“Mrs. 404″ is tentatively scheduled for later this month. It includes roughly 10 songs that fully encompass the thrill of, as the kids say, “being outside.” “Tit for Tat” is laced in venomous bars that could make any listener want to one-up their haters (“I’m the one that pick and choose/You the one that’s getting chose”). The Young Dro-assisted “Ahh Man” has the fun, futuristic style that defined Atlanta rap in the mid-to-late 2000s.

Breskii’s creative process? Simply being herself

“Let’s just have fun,” she said about her new music. “Let’s just enjoy life. Life is so short, you know.”

Breskii (pictured in white during a video shoot at Magic City) wants her new EP to bring more people on the dance floor. (Courtesy of Sincethe80s)

Breskii admits that her “grief never stops,” which is why she stays busy while prioritizing her healing. She attends therapy every week, regularly attends church and is learning to give herself grace even on the tough days.

She also plans to create foundations for families affected by liver cancer and gun violence — becoming a voice for people like her.

“I kind of didn’t want to lose my mental and myself because I still had to be a mother. If I don’t get it together, then who got him?”