Kravitz grew up spending weekdays on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with his parents, attending P. 6 for elementary school, and weekends at his grandmother Bessie Roker's house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Kravitz grew up listening to the music his parents listened to: R&B, jazz, classical, opera, gospel, and blues.
Kravitz began banging on pots and pans in the kitchen, playing them as drums at the age of three. "My parents were very supportive of the fact that I loved music early on, and they took me to a lot of shows," Kravitz said.
Kravitz would go on to collaborate with Hirsch on most of his albums.It was in Los Angeles that Kravitz was first introduced to rock music, listening to The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, KISS, Pink Floyd, and The Who.John Lennon and Bob Marley proved later to be influential as well. Maria Mc Kee, actor Nicolas Cage and musician Slash were his classmates.Kravitz urged Smith to manage his career and assist him in finding a record deal.In less than a month of shopping the recordings, five labels (Warner Bros, Elektra, Geffen, Capitol and Virgin) were in a bidding war for Kravitz.