Rapper GT Garza was born Genaro Garza in San Diego in 1985. At age five, he and his family relocated to Houston, Texas and a young Garza was raised in a city with a thriving underground rap scene. By age 14 he was making his own songs and by the end of high school, he was well-known in local battle rap competitions, sometimes traveling outside of Texas to compete. In 2002 he was signed to Universal affiliate label G Style Entertainment and appeared on remixed versions of Ashanti's "Still on It" and Chris Brown's "Run It." After his tenure with G Style Entertainment, the young rapper founded his own independent label, the Machine, and used the imprint as a platform for a string of mixtapes and singles, including 2011's @itzGarza, 2013's Brown by Honor, and 2015's La Maquina. As his career spun on, Garza began focusing more on his Latin heritage and collaborating with other Latin rappers, notably on showcase mixtapes like 2015's Latin Royalty, where he appeared alongside Lucky Luciano, Andy Yola, Rollie, and others. He continued releasing various mixtapes and albums at a steady clip, moving from 2016's Dark Dayz to 2017's Tha Illest and kicking off 2018 with Brown by Honor 2. The solo mixtapes, Parachute Platoon and Halos N Horns appeared later that year, as did collaborations with Moy Canales (Real Chances) and Risko Funk (Girls: A One-Sided Story). ~ Fred Thomas