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Mav got his shot at music stardom when multi-platinum hip hop artist Twista asked him to record a track for his "Twista presents Who'$ Got Next" compilation album. Twista was so impressed with his music and work ethic that he went on to host Mav's I Got Next 2 mixtape. What separates Mav from the pack is the fact that he is an educated kid that came from a notorious housing project and still remains true to his roots. He continues to represent the HOOD, his real Alma Mater, but at the same time embrace his college experience. In Hip Hop a 'tough' persona is deemed necessary, so you won't see many rappers preaching about a college education. Mav finds ways to deliver a meaningful message in his music like Kanye, but give it in simplistic/hook-driven form like Gucci Mane. You gotta love him. His music can be described as Educated-Hood music, often times a little more hood. Don't expect to hear any deep Pharaohe Monch-Common like lyrics. Most of Hip Hop's audience today prefer a message in its most simplistic form. I think Jay-Z said it best when he said "if lyrics sold truth be told, I'd prolly be lyrically Talib Kweli." In almost every song Mav tries to include something positive but he also likes making fun-dance music too. "The Idea behind my music is that I embrace the hood but I'm making it cool to go to school for black kids for any kid. Its where the hood meets college life."

Mav, the self-proclaimed "educated & still hood" rapper, was born November 4, 1983. Raised in Chicago's ABLA housing projects on the near west side; The Village as it was know as by its residents, was the epitome of the gutter. As Mav likes to say, "welcome to the home of the brave!" After his father got his life together, he decided to try to show Mav a better way of living. The family moved to the Southside of Chicago to escape the past, only to find out that the south side was turning into what they tried to leave behind. Mav did what any kid would do when placed in a negative environment, he adapted. He got into trouble in the streets, but he always did well in school. "I treat everything as if it's a game. Not in a disrespectful manner, but I mean I am a serious competitor. If I'm playing a game, I'm playing to win because I'm gonna be the best at whatever I'm doing. To my street niggas school was for lames. I knew better though. I was a young dude but I was more mentally mature than my boys. I wasn't a fool. Don't get me wrong I thought the drugs, money and girls was cool, but I knew I wouldn't make it far in life without an education."

The rapper-turned-producer extraordinaire, fell in love with Hip Hop at a very young age. He began rapping when he was only 5 years old. Back then, Mav was mostly just taking other rapper's lyrics such as N.W.A's, and changing words around to make it his own rap. It wasn't until 1999 when Mav got serious about music. His high school basketball coach was extremely upset that his best player quit the team to pursuit a career in the music industry. Coach thought it was silly, but Mav was fascinated by music and he thought it was a quick way to get his mother "out the kitchen." He continued to do his thing in the streets while maintaining good grades in school. In 2002 he got accepted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, it was the first of many supposedly impossible things that this ambitious rapper would accomplish. Throughout his college years, the young star would make frequent trips back to Chicago to do shows and submit music to Twista for evaluation. "I don't think T [Twista] thought I was ready. He would say he liked my music, but he would never give me a shot [laughs]."

Mav graduated from college December of 2006 and still nothing was happening like he had hoped for. He was almost certain that some big record exec from some big record label had to have heard some buzz about him and was going to be waiting for him when he returned home to Chicago. "I got back home like man, I aint on [signed] because school was in my way, now gimme a contract, but nobody was offering [laughs]. I guess the buzz wasn't big enough or either my drive wasn't strong enough, or both." Like many other successful hip hop entrepreneurs, Mav took his destiny into his own hands and built his empire, Gladiator Village Entertainment, LLC. "Now I'm on, I signed myself." Mav's debut album Educated & Still HOOD is one of the best albums I have ever heard...seriously! With the leadoff single "Catch My Breath," I guess he really does have NEXT!!!