Dounia Tazi was born on March 31, 1997[1] in either Queens, New York or Morocco.[2] She was sent to Morocco as a baby while her mother stayed in Queens for work.[3] She returned to Queens at the age of 8 and taught herself English by reading books from the local library.[3][4] Although Tazi grew up playing guitar, she was not exposed to music in her youth due to her upbringing in a "strict Muslim household", which inspired her to seek out music that she enjoyed during her time in high school.[3][5] This exploration of music led her to begin writing and recording music of her own, resulting in the release of a diss track about a boy she dated, which she posted to SoundCloud.[3][6] Tazi began thrifting in high school and started a body-positive Instagram account to model her outfits.[4] After flunking out of high school, she worked for a short time at an American Apparel store.[3]