McCraven, was born in Paris, France, to jazz drummer father fr:Stephen McCraven and Hungarian singer Ágnes Zsigmondi (of the band fr:Kolinda), and from the age of three was raised in and around Amherst and Northhampton, Massachusetts. At the age of five he played in his father's drum ensemble, the CMSS Bashers, along with some of his father's students. In middle school, he and friends formed a band to accompany his mother's folk songs. In high school, McCraven "co-founded the Cold Duck Complex, a jazz hip-hop band". He studied music at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but never graduated (although he was part of the university's jazz orchestra and received various DownBeat student awards).