Born Caleb Zackery Toliver, Don Toliver kicked off his musical career in May 2017, releasing the collaborative mixtape Playa Familia with friend and fellow rapper Yungjosh93. The tape, taking notes from sung-rap contemporaries like Trippie Redd and Future, blended Toliver's 03 Greedo-like vocals with Yungjosh's Jeremih-inspired crooning, adding an eccentric note to the formula of the pair's influences. Toliver's solo debut came just a few months later, with debut singles "I Gotta" and "Diva" dropping in November and December, respectively. Expressing the young musician's equal abilities in contemporary trap and R&B, the singles quickly caught the ear of Atlantic Records, which signed Toliver to the label in March 2018. Under Atlantic, he released a further three singles -- "Make Sumn," "Checks," and "Holdin' Steel" -- in anticipation of his upcoming sophomore mixtape and major-label debut, Donny Womack.