Oakland, California rapper/producer Ant Banks has worked with all the West Coast's elite names in hip-hop, from Too Short to Ice Cube, Ice-T and even the legendary 2Pac. Constructing a gangsta rap genre with West Coast feel and infiltrating the Hyphy movement, Ant Banks dominated the 1990s both in the Bay Area and also in the rest of the country, as well.Banks was introduced to music at a young age in school, enrolling in band class and learning the ABC's of classical music. Expanding his musical vocabulary, Banks also studied funk bands like Parliament and Funkadelic on his own at home with his Casio keyboard. Rap music soon evolved from the days of the little Casio keyboard, and along with his friend MC Ant, Banks eventually started selling rap music out of back of his trunk at school. Ant Banks debuted on record in 1992, contributing to the Menace II Society hip-hop soundtrack. He also teamed up with Bay Area rapper Too Short during this time, which led to an alliance with Spice 1 and Pooh-Man. Quickly signing with Jive Records, Ant Banks released the debut album Sittin' on Something Phat in 1993. The album was an instant success, landing at number 22 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart that year. 1994's The Big Badass followed Sittin' on Something Phat, and 1995's Do or Die came shortly thereafter.Up to the mid-1990s, Ant Banks was on the verge of blowout success. His 1997 album appropriately titled Big Thangs was the tiebreaker that thrust him onto the main stage as a hip-hop icon, and the album included a lineup of hip-hop superstars like Ice Cube, 2Pac and Ice-T. Big Thangs did big things on the charts, climbing all the way to number four on the Top R&B/hip-hop charts. Since then, Ant Banks has been busy with the project T.W.D.Y. (The Whole Damn Yey), popping out hits like "Players Holiday."