Dot Lava was raised on 5th Avenue in Paterson, NJ; in the Riverside projects. Lava was always inspired by the music his mother played on her old record player. With his Grandmother having strong ties to the church community and teaching his mother to follow in the same footsteps; it isn't a coincidence that he would do the same. Lava played the piano/organ, drums, and directed the church's youth choir. But, believe it or not Lava's first instrument was the clarinet. Before Lava began rapping his mother had a no rap policy in the her house. Lava says ït was something I didn't listen to because it wasn't allowed in my house". Before actually knowing what a rapper or producer was Lava always created his own instrumental patterns and wrote poetry. Lava had to sneak to listen to rap music. "I remember sneaking to listen to Eric B and Rakim, LL Cool J and Big Daddy Kane on records in my headphones so my parents wouldn't hear me"Lava reminisces. Even though, Lava has always been into music and writing; he began seeing rap as a career in his high school days. I thought I was going to be a doctor Lava confesses. He used to skip classes to be in the piano room and production studio.