Defari's relationship with hiphop first began in 1982 as a DJ and later evolved into a new phase in 1987 when he began emceeing. 1995 marked Defari's debut on wax in the form of "Big Up", a song produced by E-Swift and featured on Immortal's Next Chapter Compilation. In 1997, Defari teamed with producer-emcee Evidence of Dilated Peoples and dropped two highly regarded singles, "Bionic b/w Change & Switch" and People's Choice b/w Bottom Line on ABB Records.