Philadelphia rapper Scholito spent most of his young life immersed in his craft. He was years into writing rhymes and performing with his cousin as LNS, and in the early 2000s the teens were scouted at an open-mike night by pro basketball player Allen Iverson's ABK Music Group and signed to the label. Scholito quit LNS after a few years, venturing out solo in the early 2010s with a mixtape called Insanity Plea, conceptualized in part around the perspectives of a mental patient. While working on new tracks, Scholito was put in touch with veteran MC Freeway by his father, who had been friends with the rapper growing up. After hearing some tracks, Freeway began collaborating with Scholito and his boyhood friend, producer S. Frank. The two rappers produced various tracks and mixtapes together and worked closely in the years to come. In 2016 Scholito offered up the Black Lives Matter EP, and in early 2017 his first official album-length release came in the form of Streets Ain't Safe, Vol. 1. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi