Born into a family filled with musical talents, ranging from singing, instrument players, and even dancers, I knew it was my destiny to become a star in the music field. Although in my earlier years, I embraced all types of sports such as Basketball, Football, and in particular Baseball. No matter what hobby I chose to embrace, I ran with it and excelled at it. Then came High School, which meant lots of girls. Not focusing on my sports talents, I soon found myself asking “Why didn’t I stay focused on this?”, “Damn, I could have been so good at that!”, time slipped away. Fast forward… I joined the Military right out of High School, and did a four year Tour of Duty. During my first year, I homed in on another talent, which was boxing. Doing really well at this, I soon found myself heading for the Michigan Olympic Trials in the Fall of ’91, just to fall short from a shoulder injury I acquired during a sparring match with a team member. Then came “Desert Shield/Desert Storm”. I did a 6-month tour of duty in Saudi Arabia. Coming out on top in this “particular” war, we (being the soldiers) had to find extra activities during our nightfall downtime. That’s when one other duty member and I started writing rhymes as a duo, and displaying our talents for the troops whenever possible. We called ourselves “2-Tuff”, and after returning to base in Fort Knox, Kentucky, we added an additional member in the way of a DJ. The geographical diversity in our backgrounds was a key ingredient in our lyrical skills. I was born in Detroit, Michigan, my friend and the other MC, James Swift, was from Philly, and Eric EZ E, the DJ resided in Jacksonville, Florida. We continued to create many songs and did a few small to large size shows... we did our thang. As you all know, duty has to end sometime, and for me, it was in the summer of ’93. I returned back home to Detroit while James and Eric continued on with the Military. We went our separate ways, never knowing how successful we could have been. Knowing the talent was there, I continued to practice my lyrical writing and became more and more interested in the production side of the industry. I became more involved in the technical aspect of creating beats whenever possible. Being I didn’t have my own equipment at the time, I would go to the studio with my father, Anthony Hawkins, former member of the throwback group, “Black Merda”. Black Merda did big things in the Jimmie Hendrix days. At the studio, my father would let me fool around with the equipment after his sessions for an hour or two, and in a short while he noticed how serious I was about my craft. Several years from that point, and still in the making, here I am… Strata-G. Now I’m doing my thang, and hopefully you the listening audience, will appreciate my embarkment in the industry.