Geoffrey “GMANE” Robinson is an underground rapper who has been called “the godfather of Shoals-area hip-hop,” and was one of the first hip-hop artists to be inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Born in Florence, Alabama, he started scratching records at age nine, and was writing his own rhymes by the time he was twelve. Early influences included his father, who was a radio and club disc jockey, as well as Shoals-based rap pioneers Chubb Fresh and Pete Key.

Robinson’s music career began in earnest with the formation of the Wu-Tang-inspired collective Slave Kamp, and the release of the eponymous Vol. I compilation, recorded at the University of North Alabama in 1994. “We did the out-the-trunk method," Robinson recalls. "We pressed up our CDs and our tapes, we went state-to-state, city-to-city, and wherever we could sell our stuff... We made our fan base one fan at a time.”