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.