Ms. Dynamite was born and raised in Archway, a district in North London, to a Jamaican father and a Scottish mother. As stated on the programme Ms Dynamite: In Search of Nanny Maroon in addition to her Jamaican-Scottish parentage, she shares Bajan, English, Irish, German and Grenadian ancestries. She grew up listening to reggae and hip-hop music. Though she wanted to become a schoolteacher or social worker, her biggest aspiration was to be a musician. She is the eldest of eleven siblings, one of whom is a grime artist known as Akala, and attended Acland Burghley School in London.