Martin served as a ghostwriter for other hip hop artists prior to gaining recognition as a rapper himself. He was credited on the 2008 single "Head of My Class" by rapper Scooter Smiff featuring Chris Brown, and made his first mainstream recording appearance on Snoop Dogg's album Malice N Wonderland (2008). He launched his independent record label, Diamond Lane Music Group that same year.[4] With intent on furthering his recording career, he signed with Universal Republic Records to release his 2008 debut commercial single, "I'm Toe Up" and its follow-up, "Whereva U Like." Failing to chart in any known territory, he was promptly dropped from the label.[6]
On June 13, 2013, he released the mixtape The Separation, which contains guest appearances from Wale, T.I., Snoop Dogg, Game, Chris Brown, Tank, Tyga and Wiz Khalifa, among others.[9] His 2013 song "Like Whaaat," featuring Bad Lucc, peaked at number 20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 singles chart; it remains his most commercially successful song as a lead artist. On July 23, 2013, he released "Say That Then," featuring Glasses Malone.[10]
In November 2013, Martin announced that he would release his debut album independently through his Diamond Lane label. He revealed that he would be primarily producing the album along with League of Starz.[11] On December 10, 2013, Martin released the commercial extended playUnderstand Me, which was supported by the aforementioned singles along with its eponymous lead single.[12] Martin appeared in a branded music video alongside Neil Patrick Harris for the drink product Neuro in February 2014.[13]
Martin partnered with the Los Angeles Rams to create the team's theme song, "My Squad," for the 2016-17 NFL season.[14] The release included an official music video that was shot to resemble Snapchat.[citation needed] After gaining regional success on the mixtape circuit, Martin released his debut album, Selfish, in November 2017.[15] He followed up with his second album, S2 on November 30, 2018.