Phat Kat & DJ Dister

Born and raised on the Detroit's east side, Ronnie Watts knew he wanted to be a rapper after hearing Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'." In 1984 Watts saw Whodini perform, prompting him to begin writing his own rhymes, and by the end of his senior year of high school, he, going under the name Phat Kat (given to him by a local mechanic, though he also refers to himself as "Ronnie Cash"), had produced his first song. In 1994 he met Jay Dee in a local hip-hop joint; the two quickly became friends, and the following year, after a chance encounter in a Detroit record store with New ...