Ryan "Breakdown" McGown was born just outside of St. Louis, Missouri on January 13, 1978. His father was in the military, which led to him spending a large portion of his childhood in Japan. While in Japan, Breakdown became fascinated with hip hop culture, breakdancing in particular, at the age of eight. The next year his family moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, where they lived for a little over a year, after which they then moved to Alexandria, Louisiana. Two years later, in June of 1990, they moved to Tampa, Florida where Breakdown has lived ever since.

During this time, and the next five or six years as well, he spent countless hours trying to imitate the dance moves he would see in hip hop videos (which later led to his moniker). After a friend convinced him to freestyle during a lunch break at work in September of 1995, he realized that he could rap. Breakdown had been writing poems and short stories since he was very young, so ...