After graduating from Desoto High School in 2017, Erica enrolled in Texas A&M Commerce to study nursing. However, she later had a change of heart and swapped her major to business before eventually dropping out to focus on her music. "I wasn't happy, and school was hard," she explained to 1501 Certified Entertainment. "I stopped going to class and was just kicking it every day. And I realized that this was not what I wanted to do. I didn't want to be a nurse. I didn't know what kind of business I wanted to own. I was so stressed out."
She then uploaded her first single, "Talk My Sh*t," to SoundCloud in 2018, which she followed up with two mixtapes, Art of the Hustle and Pressure. Erica's music caught the attention of 1501 Certified Entertainment CEO Carl Crawford, and the rest was history. "When Carl clicked on me for us to go live together, I played my newest single 'Buss It' for him," Erica explained. "He liked it. A couple of weeks after the live, he reached out to me and asked if I was signed to any other label. I told him no, and that's when he decided to sign me to his team."
