Ronnie Watts, now known as Phat Kat, was born and raised on the east side of Detroit. He realized early on that he wanted to become a rapper, so he began to aim himself in that direction. He started his music career in 1984, when he saw the hip-hop group Whodini perform and found himself inspired to create his own rhymes. By the time he had reached his senior year of high school, he was going under the name of Phat Kat, although he occasionally will refer to himself as Ronnie Cage. By the time he had reached his senior year in High School he had already produced his first single.

Phat Kat met Jay Dee at a local hip-hop club in 1994 and the duo started performing together under the name 1st Down. They signed with Pay Day Records not long after they started rapping together. Unfortunately the label crumbled right after the duo released their first single "A Day wit the Homiez," and the duo parted ways not long after that. It was a sad day for Midwestern music, as the duo had the possibility of being the first rap group from the Midwest to make it big nationally.

During the rest of the ‘80s Phat Kat appeared occasionally with Slum village, joining them for their tour A Tribe Called Quest, which was the farewell tour for the group. He suffered several career setbacks during the beginning of the ‘00s, being dropped by his first label because of a staff readjustment. He finally released his first LP in 2004, Undeniable, which helped to launch his career more solidly. He released his second album Cart Blanche in 2007, which was an excellent and welcome addition to hip-hop from Detroit. Phat Kat was on his way.