In 2011, Dej Loaf began her career as a
hip hop artist. Her stage name is a portmanteau of a shortened version of her first name, "Deja", and "loafer", as she took a keen interest in
Air Jordans when growing up. In 2012, she released her first official mixtape,
Just Do It. That mixtape attracted the attention of a fellow Detroit-native rapper, SAYITAINTTONE. She was later signed to his indie record label, called IBGM (I Been Gettin' Money) under his management team. In October 2014, she signed a major record deal to
Columbia Records. After signing the deal, she released her second official mixtape, called
Sell Sole. Dej Loaf rapped on the song "
Detroit vs. Everybody" featured on
Eminem's compilation
Shady XV (2014). In 2015, she opened for
Nicki Minaj during the North American leg of
The Pinkprint Tour. Later that year, she was chosen as part of the
XXL magazine 2015 Freshman Class. In February 2016, Dej Loaf released a mixtape called
All Jokes Aside. In July 2017, she released a joint mixtape with
Jacquees titled
Fuck a Friend Zone. After several years of delays, Dej Loaf split from Columbia Records in 2019. She then independently released her debut album,
Sell Sole II on October 23, 2020. It features appearances from
Big Sean,
Gunna,
Rick Ross,
Lil Uzi Vert, and
6lack. The album is the sequel to Dej Loaf's 2014 mixtape
Sell Sole. The album holds a 72/100 rating on
Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In February 2021, Dej Loaf was featured on
Sevyn Streeter's single "Guilty" along with
Chris Brown and
ASAP Ferg. ==Discography==