Sampson Davis grew up without his father in a tough neighborhood. Growing up, he was constantly surrounded by poverty, gangs and drug use. He was unusually intelligent for someone his age and in his living situation. he attended a magnet school while living in Newark, where he met George and Rameck. Due to his influences outside of his home, including people in his neighborhood and other friends at school, Sampson often found himself in trouble. Though he had never faced time in prison, he was still surrounded by people that negatively influenced him. Inspired by the changes seen in his friend Rameck, Sampson decided to make similar changes in his own life and become a better person. George Jenkins was in a similar situation of living in a tough neighborhood and hanging out with the wrong people, yet still being intelligent enough to know that something was not right in his life. His life was a little better than those of his friends, save for the fact that he lived in a neighborhood where gang violence and drug usage was rampant. Growing up, he visited a dentist for a normal checkup and became interested in the procedure. From that moment on, he vowed to change his life and become a dentist. While in high school, the three boys learned to depend greatly on the encouragement of each other, becoming inseparable until they each entered medical school, where they split up when George decided to become a dentist. All three of them had come from violent backgrounds, whether directly or indirectly.