At the age of eight Lanshaw discovered his rapping talent as he could rap Sir Mix-a-Lot's entire song "Baby Got Back" without missing a word. He started participating in freestyle battles at high school when he was in ninth grade. Lanshaw rapped with his friend "Lil Black", who inspired him to use a pseudonym Lil Wyte and write songs instead of freestyling. Lanshaw dropped out of high school twice due to truancy. After the third time of dropping out, he went to a different school and eventually earned his high school diploma.