Born Michael Charles Johnson in San Diego, California, on October 2, 1969, the American rapper known as Paperboy rose to fame with the hit single "Ditty", which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in the top 100 in Germany, New Zealand and Australia. The track was taken from the album The Nine Yards, released on the Next Plateau label in 1993 and ranked No. 48 on the Billboard 200. With a tendency towards the then nascent g-funk style, the Californian rapper followed this up with the album City to City (1996), but failed to find success. His career continued with albums The Love Never Dies (2004), The New News (2008), News Flash (2009) and The News (2013). He returned with several singles in the 2020s, including "Ditty Baby" (2021), featuring Terry Troutman of the band Zapp.
