Latto | Before They Were Famous | Jermaine Dupri's Favorite Female Rapper
Before earning her first cross-over hit with “Big Energy” and seeing over a hundred of her unreleased tracks leak onto the internet, the rapper Latto was born Alyssa Michelle Stephens on December 22nd, 1998, in Columbus, Ohio to bi-racial couple, Misti Pitts and Shayne Stephens. At the age of two, her parents moved the family from Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia where Alyssa grew up on the South Side in Clayton County and bonded with her father over their shared interest in drag-racing. As a kid, Alyssa was always drumming up ingenious ways to earn a little extra scratch. She not only sold candy in the halls of her elementary school but when she got a little bit older, she claims she would sometimes make around $10K a night by throwing house parties and charging an entry fee at the door, while also marking up snacks like chips and soda on the inside. During these parties, Alyssa would play the music from some of her favorite artists, not only rappers that her father introduced her to like Tupac, Bone Thugs N Harmony, as well as the NWA, but her own favorites like Nicki Minaj and Gucci Mane as well.