A soul singer who has drawn comparisons to such classic R&B vocalists as Bill Withers and Bobby Womack, Anthony Hamilton struggled for the better part of the 1990s as two of his albums went unreleased. Getting his start at age ten singing in his church choir, the Charlotte, NC, native also performed as a teenager at various nightclubs and talent shows. Always with an eye to move on to bigger things, Hamilton made the move to New York City in 1993, eventually signing with Uptown Records, epicenter for the ew jack swing sound and home to artists such as Jodeci and Mary J. Blige. By 1995, Uptown was set to push Hamilton's debut album, but the company went out of business, leaving the album unreleased.

Hamilton next signed with MCA and recorded his critically acclaimed but largely overlooked 1996 album, XTC. Another transitional period followed and Hamilton ultimately found himself at the Soulife label. It was at Soulife, a relatively new venture run by some of the singer's old Charlotte friends, that Hamilton laid down tracks for another solo album and also wrote songs for such artists as Donell Jones and Sunshine Anderson. In 2000, he accepted an invitation to sing backup vocals on singer/organist D'Angelo's "Voodoo Tour" and traveled the world. Upon returning home, Hamilton discovered that Soulife had also gone belly up.