Rapper Mike Floss was born in Chicago in 1991, but his family moved to Nashville soon after he was born. Son of respected jazz trumpeter Rod McGaha, Mike grew up surrounded by music and quickly developed his own musical aspirations, first to follow in his dad's footsteps on trumpet and later moving on to hip-hop. By high school he was performing locally under the name Openmic, but switched to the Mike Floss moniker sometime in the early 2010s as his style started to take shape.