Sparxxx was born Warren Anderson Mathis in LaGrange, Ga., 65 miles southwest of Atlanta, on March 6, 1977. The youngest of Jimmy and June Mathis’ five children, he was the only child who wasn’t from a previous marriage. June, a grocery store cashier, called her youngest child “Andy.” Father Jimmy also worked at a grocery store, first as a meat cutter and later as a manager; he also worked as a school bus driver and had a stint driving a Lance Potato Chip truck. “He was kind of a jack-of-all-trades,” Sparxxx said.

The thought of a white boy from the backwoods of Georgia making a rap album is as mind-boggling as that of a black kid from Harlem belting out country tunes. But one listen to “Ugly” – the first single from the forthcoming debut album by Interscope/Beat Club/11th Hour recording artist Bubba Sparxxx – will break down the stereotypical barriers and leave you wondering why it’s taken so long for a talented white rapper to emerge from the south.

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