Earl Simmons was born on December 18, 1970, in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the son of 19-year-old Arnett Simmons and 18-year-old Joe Barker. Simmons was the middle child of the family; his mother had given birth to a daughter, Bonita, two years prior, and later gave birth to a second daughter, Shayla, and two stillborn sons. His father, Barker, painted watercolor paintings of street scenes to sell at local fairs, having moved to Philadelphia to fulfill his career.