Mystikal\'s family moved to New Orleans when he was young. His father, who ran a small neighborhood store, died when he was seven. As a teenager he got caught up in the fads of the breakdancing and toyed around with rudimentary rhyming and rapping calling himself "Mystikal Mike". He attended Cohen High School, and was an average student fond of science, especially astronomy. LL Cool J became one of his idols as he grew more into rapping. After graduation, Mystikal joined the United States Armed Forces enlisted as a Combat engineer where he served in the Gulf War during combat. While in the Army, he took psychology and business classes, but spent more time performing raps in NCO clubs. After being discharged, he came home to New Orleans and was hired as an undercover security guard at the Woolworth\'s in the Carrollton Shopping Center. Before going into the service, he had laid down some vocal tracks with his friends in 3-9 Posse, which turned up on one of the group\'s albums on a small local label. Because of his 3-9 Posse association, he was invited to be one of the local acts who opened for Run-D.M.C. and Doug E. Fresh at an outdoor concert at the Theme Center. Leroy "Precise" Edwards, the house producer for Big Boy Records, was in the audience, and was blown away by Mystikal\'s one-song performance of "Not That Nigga." After the performance Mystikal was granted a contract.\n', '

Mystikal\'s debut album, Mystikal, was released on New Orleans-based independent record label Big Boy Records in 1994. The album was one of Big Boy\'s most successful and gained major success for Mystikal. In 1995, he found himself involved in conflict with fellow New Orleans rappers signed to rival Cash Money Records, including U.N.L.V., Lil Wayne & B.G.. They dissed him on tracks like "Drag \'Em in Tha River" by U.N.L.V. and "Fuck Big Boy" by The B.G.\'z. He struck back with the diss "Beware" which was on his second album, Mind of Mystikal. Mystikal\'s sister, Michelle Tyler (with whom he had close ties), sang the chorus on "Not That Nigga" and her fate became a major influence on Mystikal\'s music after her untimely death. The songs "Dedicated To Michelle Tyler", "Murder" (both on Mind of Mystikal), "Murder 2", "Shine" (both on Unpredictable) and "Murder III" (on Let\'s Get Ready) refer to her murder. It wasn\'t long after their beef that Mystikal and Lil Wayne decided to squash it and become collaborators.\n', '

Mystikal signed to Jive Records and released Mind of Mystikal in 1995. He signed to No Limit Records in 1996 and released Unpredictable in November 1997. He appeared on many of the No Limit albums released from 1997 through a chunk of 1999. In late 1998, he released Ghetto Fabulous. That was his last album with the label, and he left later in 1999 to go on his own.\n', '

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