1992–2003: Beginnings In 1992, Thorburn signed with
Jive Records, then in the mid-1990s signed with
Priority Records/
EMI. His contract was later absorbed by
Capitol Records but he began recording independently in the early 2000s. He was featured on all three of
Rawkus's
Soundbombing albums, as well as the platinum-selling
WWF Aggression album, performing the theme song for
Chris Jericho. In
Ego Trip Vol. 1, Issue 3,
The Notorious B.I.G. was quoted as saying, "And I thought I was the illest," when referring to Thorburn.
2004–2012: Die, Rugged Man, Die, film cameos & magazine writing In 2004, Thorburn released his first album
Die, Rugged Man, Die through Brooklyn-based label
Nature Sounds. He has cameos in several music videos including
Havoc from
Mobb Deep's ''I'm the Boss'',
Sadat X's
Throw the Ball and
Masta Killa's
Old Man featuring
RZA and
Ol' Dirty Bastard. Thorburn's verse on
Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story was named by HipHopDX as the "Verse of the Year". Thorburn wrote a monthly movie column for
Mass Appeal Magazine, was a contributor to
The Ego Trip Book of Rap Lists (St. Martin's Press) and ''Ego Trip's Big Book of Racism
(HarperCollins), and has written numerous articles for other magazines including Vibe
, King
, Complex
, Rides'' and
XXL.
2013–present: Legends Never Die and All My Heroes Are Dead Thorburn's second studio album
Legends Never Die was released on April 30, 2013. Guest appearances include
Brother Ali,
Masta Ace,
Tech N9ne,
Talib Kweli,
Hopsin,
Eamon, and
Krizz Kaliko. His first single of the album was "The Peoples Champ", the second was "Learn Truth" feat. Talib Kweli. Upon release the album debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard
Heatseekers Albums chart, number 17 on the Billboard
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at number 131 on the
Billboard 200. In 2016, Thorburn was featured on German rapper
Kool Savas studio album
Essahdamus on the song "Wahre Liebe". The third studio album by Thorburn,
All My Heroes Are Dead, was released on April 17, 2020 and debuted #22 on the US Billboard Top Current Album Sales and #3 on the UK R&B Albums. It features artists like
Ghostface Killah,
Eamon,
Atmosphere,
Ice-T,
Vinnie Paz,
Brand Nubian,
Chino XL,
M.O.P. and
Onyx. On a December 2021 podcast for political commentator
Tim Pool, Thorburn nearly got into an altercation with Pool on air after Pool called him a "racist prick". Thorburn claimed Pool had never experienced racism, and he also accused Pool of promoting
Derek Chauvin, and making excuses for the men who murdered
Ahmaud Arbery, saying to Pool that "lives have been lost by police, and you were there bootlicking the fucking cops." ==Personal life==