Guttural rapper REASON arrived during the latter half of the 2010s with a couple mixtapes that were nonstarters due to lack of promotion. The West Coast artist's fortunes changed after he made contact with influential operators behind the scenes -- namely Moosa and Anthony Top Dawg Tiffith -- which led to a placement on the chart-topping compilation Black Panther: The Album, a deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, and a 2018 re-release of There You Have It. His debut studio album, New Beginnings, arrived in 2020, cracking the upper reaches of the Billboard 200.

A native of Carson, California, the rapper born Robert Gill released his debut solo mixtape as REASON, In the Meantime, in January 2015. He returned the next year with two additional mixtapes, The Free Album and The Proof. In May 2017, he released fourth mixtape There You Have It, but a publicist bailed on the job after being paid nearly five figures to promote the release. REASON rebounded a few months later when he gained reliable support in manager Moosa Tiffith, a connection that led to a commercial breakthrough the following February. That's when the Kendrick Lamar-driven Black Panther: The Album was released featuring "Seasons," on which REASON shared the mike with fellow Californian Mozzy and South African artist Sjava. The full-length topped the Billboard 200. Six months later, Anthony Top Dawg Tiffith -- his manager's father -- welcomed him to the roster of TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment), placing him in the company of Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and SZA, among others.

A revamped version of There You Have It, including a new single entitled "The Soul," arrived in September 2018 on TDE. It would be two years before REASON's studio debut was be released, and in that time, he issued several singles and made some cameo appearances on the Dreamville compilation Revenge of the Dreamers III. When his studio album New Beginnings arrived in October 2020, it broke into the Billboard 200 at number 167 and featured guest spots by Vince Staples, JID, ScHoolboy Q, and others. REASON's output in 2021 consisted of a brief demo EP, No More, No Less, and a guest spot on Ben Beal and Elijah Who's track "Coraline." He returned the following year with "Is What It Is," a collaboration with Jay Rock. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi