Growing up on the west side of Chicago wasn't really that rough for me because being that my mom and grandma kept me outta trouble. It was less violent back then but still it was dangerous.  but didn't caught up with any b's that would land me in jail or to my grave experiencing hip hop at an early age of twelve years old kept me occupied and gave me more knowledge and interests into music before I got into rapping coming up my favorite rapper was MC Hammer I had action figures of him toy microphones you name it then through the years started listening to No Limit which is Master P. bumped a little bit of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg but No Limit was the shit to me idk why lol but it was cool. Then elevated to The Ruff Ryders where I experienced more dope MCs like DMX,Eve,Drag On,The Lox,and Swiss Beats then other dope MCs on The Rocafella Lable soon as Kanye came out that's when contience rap elevated in me through the years I developed lyricism references allegories sharpened my skills the dictionary helped me developed after that I was set.had alot of names but when everybody started callin me Lazz I was geeked because of it sounding dope but when I thought about the other first two letters in my last name that's when I said oh yea Lazz Tha R.A. is born. My influences are Kid n Play, DJ.Jazzie Jeff and The Fresh Prince, Of course 2pac and Biggie,Nas,Jadakiss,Eminem,Talib Kweli,Mos Def,Common,Lupe Fiasco,The Fujees,Busta Rhymes,Kanye West,Ludacris,Erykah Badu,Outkast,Jean Grae,Phonte, De La Soul,and The Roots.