Mathis grew up in a rural area near LaGrange, Georgia. His father was a school bus driver, and his mother was a grocery store cashier. His closest neighbor, who lived half a mile away, introduced him to rap music through mixtapes mailed from New York City. The music of 2 Live Crew was his introduction to hip hop; he began listening to West Coast gangsta rap such as N.W.A and Too Short and the Atlanta duo Outkast. With rapping as a hobby, he was a tight end and linebacker for his high school\'s football team and earned All-Region honors in his senior year. Steve Herndon, a former offensive lineman for the NFL\'s Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, played football with him during high school, according to an interview with Down-South.com. In 2007, he moved to Tampa, Florida.\n', '

In 1996, he moved to Athens, Georgia, where he met industry veteran (and now manager and business partner) Bobby Stamps. Stamps noticed him rapping after a University of Georgia football game and arranged for him to work with many artists in Athens and Atlanta to complete his first CD. Bubba Sparxxx\'s first commercial CD release, Dark Days, Bright Nights, saw some success in Georgia and caught the attention of Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records. Sparxxx signed to Interscope and began working with record producers Timbaland and Organized Noize. The major-label reissue of Dark Days, Bright Nights, released via Timbaland\'s Beat Club Records imprint and which now included five collaborations with Timbaland and two with Organized Noise, debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200. In 2002, he had a minor hit being featured on Archie Eversole\'s "We Ready", which became popular for being played at sport events, such as football and basketball games. In late 2003, he returned with his second album, Deliverance, which was critically acclaimed but sold poorly.\n', '

Sparxxx signed a recording contract with Virgin Records in 2004; under Virgin, Sparxxx released The Charm with singles "Ms. New Booty" and "Heat It Up". He left Virgin to establish his own label, New South Entertainment, which is distributed by E1 Records. In 2007, he released a mixtape with DJ Burn One titled Survive Till Ya Thrive. He stated in an interview that he planned on releasing an album to be called Miracle on Gamble Road, in 2012. In 2012, he signed to Backroad Records, a subsidiary of the independent label Average Joe\'s Entertainment, and recorded the song "Country Boy Coolin\'" which was featured on Mud Digger Vol. 3, a compilation album released by Average Joe\'s on June 12, 2012.\n', '

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