Describing his own production signature as "an oxymoron: clean and dirty at the same time," Needlz caught the ear of many popular rap acts, most notably 50 Cent and his G-Unit camp, in the early to mid-2000s. With a predilection of straying away from sampling, his "clean and dirty" style often consists of abrasive basslines, grimy sound effects, and light melodies. He first began shopping around his beats as a graduate student at New York University (NYU) and had some success making tracks for a few artists including Fabolous and the Ruff Ryders. However, his breakthrough tracks were the 2004 major hit single Let Me In from Young Buck's Straight Outta Ca$hville and the beef-stirring Piggy Bank on 50 Cent's The Massacre. He also devised theme songs for BET's #Rap City and MTV's #Suckafree Sundays.

Born Khari Cain, Needlz grew up in Lansing, MI. He attended Florida A&M and Florida State University for undergrad, where he also did DJing for parties and local clubs. His introduction to the music industry began at NYU as a coffee-fetching intern for Sean Diddy Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment. As a music business major, Cain was planning to pursue a career as an A&R, but the experience at Bad Boy left him embittered. At the time, beat-making was mainly a hobby, but he became determined to work for himself. Eventually, his work wound up on the desk of A&R Folayan Knight. She helped land him the BET and MTV deals as well as the connection with G-Unit, which has been his main clientele. 2005 was a lucrative year for Needlz, boasting productions for a variety of different hip-hop artists including Talib Kweli, the Game, Cassidy, and Trina. ~ Cyril Cordor, Rovi