Mike WiLL Made It, birth name Michael Williams, was born on March 23, 1989 in Marietta, Georgia, the youngest of three children with two older sisters.[3] Mike WiLL's mother was in a gospel group, singing for Dottie Peoples when Mike was young, and, according to Mike WiLL, his uncle was an accomplished guitar player.[3] Growing up, Mike WiLL was athletic, participating in a number of sports, including basketball, baseball, and football, with dreams of becoming a professional athlete.[2] As a teenager, Mike WiLL first developed his talent for music by re-playing popular instrumentals that he heard on the radio while he and his friends would freestyle to them.[3] In a number of interviews, Mike WiLL has mentioned, in particular, re-playing the instrumental for "Still Fly," a popular song by the southern rap group Big Tymers, on a makeshift Casio brand keyboard, and has also mentioned re-playing the song "Young'n (Holla Back)" by New York rapper Fabolous on production equipment at a local music store.[4] At age 14, Mike WiLL began to make his own beats on a Korg ES1 beat machine, which his father purchased for him as a Christmas present from local music store Mars Music. As Mike WiLL became more accomplished, he also began to use production equipment including the Korg Triton, the Akai MPC1000, the Yamaha Motif, and the Roland Fantom.[3] Upon graduating high school, Mike WiLL enrolled at Georgia State to pursue undergraduate studies, but dropped out after several semesters to focus on his career as a music producer