Hip-hop and gangsta rap carved out a distinct space in American popular music through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, drawing on street-level storytelling and a raw, unfiltered approach to lyrical content. Kevin Jerome Gilyard, born in New Orleans on February 5, 1986, and known professionally as Kevin Gates, emerged from that tradition as a rapper, singer, songwriter, composer, and entrepreneur who also took on acting and television work.

Gates attended McKinley Senior High School before building a career in music that moved through mixtapes and eventually into major-label territory. He works in hip-hop and gangsta rap, performing in English, and is currently signed to Bread Winners' Association in partnership with Atlantic Records. That combination of independent foundation and major-label reach has shaped the platform from which he releases his work.

Before his debut studio album arrived, Gates put out a string of mixtapes that established him with audiences. Stranger Than Fiction came out in 2013, followed by both By Any Means and Luca Brasi 2 in 2014. Those projects built anticipation for what would come next and demonstrated his output as a solo artist working across the rapper, singer, and songwriter roles simultaneously.

His debut studio album, Islah, was released in January 2016 and peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. That chart position marked a concrete measure of the album's commercial reach, placing it among the most commercially successful releases of its release window. Beyond music, Gates has pursued work as an actor and television actor alongside his entrepreneurial activities, rounding out a career that spans several creative and business areas rather than sitting neatly within a single lane.