Born 1980, the result of a brief union between Earnestine Jackson and Jerry Higgs, Willie Earl Scott was raised by maternal grandmother, Mrs. Vinnie Scott, of Birmingham, Alabama, almost exclusively on the historic city's Northside. He attended nearby Norwood Elementary and Kirby Middle School up to the 8th grade, whereby he dropped out after succumbing entirely to the streets and its pull. Considered bookish and extremely bright by those that knew him, Willie would be in and out of juvenile detention and reformatory school, where he was sentenced to one year as an SJO (Serious Juvenile Offender) for the attempted assassination of a Northside ganglord, then, almost immediately upon release, another two years for the attempted murder of another in a seemingly unending war. Only this time the 16-year-old manchild who now went by Willie Redd was imprisoned in West Jefferson, Alabama's most dangerous adult prison at the time. There Willie ultimately cut gang ties and connected with music executives.