Growing up: 1980–1993
Radric Delantic Davis was born on February 12, 1980, in Bessemer, Alabama, to former U.S serviceman and power plant worker Ralph Everett Dudley , and social worker and teacher Vicky Jean Davis . Davis' family had a strong military background. His paternal grandfather, James Dudley, Sr., served in the military for twelve years, including during World War II, as a chef, and his maternal grandfather, Walter Lee Davis, served in the Pacific during World War II and on the USS South Dakota. Davis' father also served in the military, being stationed in Korea for two years.
Davis' parents met in 1978; Davis' mother had a son from another relationship, Victor Davis. When Davis was born, his father was on the run from the police for dealing crack cocaine and heroin, and had fled to Detroit, Michigan. Davis' father was not present to sign the birth certificate, and Davis took his mother's last name.
Growing up, Davis was raised by his paternal grandmother while his mother attended college to get her degree. Davis' mother was a teacher who taught him to read at a young age, and spent most of her time teaching him scriptures from the Bible. Davis' first school was Jonesboro Elementary, where he attended kindergarten and the first several grades of elementary school. His older half-brother Victor introduced Davis to hip hop when Davis was six years old by bringing Davis to a Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J concert. Before moving to Atlanta with his mother, Davis had a distant relationship with his father, who would visit at irregular intervals; the visits stopped when Davis' father had two children with another woman and began to prioritize his children in Atlanta over Davis.
Davis moved with his single mother to Atlanta in 1989 when he was nine years old due to family problems in Bessemer. Davis' mother had a boyfriend in Atlanta and planned to move in with him, but she decided otherwise at the last minute. They later moved in with someone Davis' mother met in church. Davis' family was kicked out of the house and did not have a stable living environment until his father set them up in a Knights Inn. Davis grew up in an area which was high in crime.
Davis' mother moved Davis and Victor to East Atlanta and Davis attended Cedar Grove Elementary School. He was generally good in school and considered himself athletic although he did not participate in school sports. Davis dealt drugs, mainly selling cannabis with his older brother. Davis sold cannabis on his own and ended up using his Christmas money to acquire crack cocaine while in the eighth grade, starting his career as a drug dealer.
Time as a drug dealer: 1993–2001
By the time Davis began taking his side hobby as a drug dealer as a career, he was a freshman at Ronald E. McNair High School, where he got good grades and was considered popular among his peers. Davis never actually took drugs for the first few years that he was dealing drugs, though his first experience was smoking cannabis with a girl he had a crush on. He entered a friends-with-benefits arrangement with the girl with whom he regularly smoked cannabis, leading to a slight psychological addiction.
Even though Davis had been selling drugs for nearly two years by 1995, he had never encountered a violent situation. When he was fifteen, Davis was riding his push bicycle when a man stopped him and pointed a Desert Eagle at his head. Davis was robbed of all valuable items following the encounter and began to carry a .380 caliber handgun. Davis had numerous other life-threatening situations, including a feud with a local street gang who titled themselves "the East Shoals Boys" in 1997. The feud resulted in Davis' friend Javon being beaten close to death and adult men walking into McNair High School looking for Davis. The feud resolved itself when Davis and several other friends got into a fistfight with members of the East Shoals Boys, who have since then left Davis alone.
Davis graduated from McNair High School in 1998 with a 3.0 GPA and a HOPE Scholarship to Georgia Perimeter College. He took a computer programming course, though he rarely attended and was kicked out in 2001 after being caught with possession of crack cocaine by an undercover police officer. Davis was sentenced to 90 days in a county jail and then probation.
Pursuing music: 2001–2005
Davis enjoyed writing poetry as a child, and began rapping at the age of 14. Following his first arrest, Davis began to take music seriously and released La Flare on Str8 Drop Records. It was pressed onto about 1000 CDs and distributed throughout East Atlanta. Following the release of La Flare, and being inspired by Master P, Davis decided he wanted to start a music label. Davis began to manage rapper Lil Buddy in 2001. In 2002, Davis linked up with SYS Records as a member of the Sign Yourself Click. Davis also linked up with producer Zaytoven and made his own label, LaFlare Entertainment.
After heading to New York in search of a distribution deal and returning home empty, he was introduced to Big Cat, the head of Big Cat Records. Ultimately deciding to form an alliance with the label that brought Khia to prominence, Davis released the song "Black Tee", a response to Dem Franchize Boyz hit record, "White Tee", as well as a collaboration with fellow rising local rapper Young Jeezy with "So Icy." Securing a distribution deal with Tommy Boy Records, Davis continued to work the underground while preparing for the release of his debut album.
