Mario Mims was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and is much better known by his stage name as the rapper “Yo Gotti Gangsta Grillz” – most call him “Yo Gotti” for short. He grew up in the infamous Riverdale housing project in Kansas City in a neighborhood known as Frazier. His younger years involved being raised in a family of hustlers and growing up living in a hard life where food and money were scarce. Seeing a lot of street violence and crime, he learned to cope with his environment and overcome the odds. He eventually was able to depart from a career of hustling to becoming a full time musician. Growing up around dangerous people, gang members and criminals had a large impact on him and he learned to express his feelings about what was around him in his life through his music.

Listening to Yo Gotti freestyle music helps his fans understand that he learned to respect everyone from the streets and not to disrespect people for being different. “Working hard,” he says “shows other people that they can work hard to achieve goals and be successful.” On his album, “Fiend Music”, Yo Gotti explains some of his past in the songs “Mama We Gone Be Alright” and “My Story” – which talks about some of the hard times his family has had to endure over the years.

Learning to hustle and be a salesman is what has kept his family alive. Yo Gotti learned a valuable skill in his youth – making music. Yo Gotti sold music tapes out of the back of his car and in a mall record store. By the time he had created a fan-base, a local music distributor offered him a deal to sell his album. When the record company, Cash Money offered his group “The Block Burnaz” a deal, his career had just begun to take off in a large way. He attributes his major success to his underground fans which gave him support due to his street credibility that he had already established in Kansas City.