Alias, born in Portland, Maine to a jazz drummer and a church organist, grew up in a suburb called Hollis and played drums in his high school band. Isolated in a small town, alias found no music that captivated him until at age 13 when he saw "Yo MTV Raps." Alone in his interest in hiphop, alias sought to immerse himself in this foreign counter-culture. He bought The Source monthly at the one shop in Maine that carried it, and by age 14 he was writing his own raps. In support of his new found passion, his parents bought him a drum machine for Christmas, and alias rapped over his own beats in the privacy of his bedroom, too shy to share his rhymes with anyone.

However, in 1993, upon meeting sole, who was already recording and doing shows, Alias began rapping in ciphers at parties. He moved his "studio" from his bedroom to a friend's basement where he taught himself to use an MPC 3000 and an ADAT machine. In '96 he started doing shows with The Live Poets (sole's group) around New England.