Rubi Rose Benton was born in Lexington, Kentucky, where she was also raised, to Nardos Ghebrelul, her mother, an Eritrean immigrant dentist, and John Benton, her father, who is a lawyer and is of half African-American and half-Japanese descent. Her mother was born in Ethiopia although being an Eritrean. Her father is adopted so her paternal biological grandmother is of Japanese descent. She has an older sister named Scarlette and a younger sister named Coral. She lived for one year in Geneva, Switzerland. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia in her junior year of high school. She studied politics at Georgia State University. She grew up listening to Prince, Michael Jackson, Biggie, Marvin Gaye and Chaka Khan. She is influenced by Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and Foxy Brown. Rose first gained fame as the main model for hip-hop group Migos' music video for the single "Bad and Boujee". Around this time, she started regularly featuring on a Twitch stream with Jamaican-born East Coast Hip Hop Commentator DJ Akademiks. Rose started releasing her own music and made traction in 2019 with her single Rubi Rose: Big Mouth (2019). Rose made a cameo appearance in American rapper Cardi B's music video for her single Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion: WAP (2020), which was released on August 7, 2020. In 2019, she was signed by A&R Chris Turner to LA Reid's record label Hitco Entertainment. On December 25, 2020, Rose released her first official mix tape, For the Streets, featuring guest appearances from Future and PartyNextDoor. Rose was featured in the 2021 XXL Freshman List.