Growing up in Georgia, Young played various sports including football, basketball, and track and field; in addition to having sang in school choirs and having participated in school plays and dances. He was raised Baptist by strict parents, who didn't allow him to listen to hip hop music as a youth. However, Young cites his parents' methods as a foundation upon which he could build himself in character, especially growing up in the area that he was. In 2009, Young signed a recording contract with Akon's Konvict Muzik label imprint, under the aegis of Def Jam Recordings. Young first gained major attention in 2010 when he received a co-sign from fellow American rapper and hip hop mogul Kanye West. Young reports that American singer Beyoncé, a friend of West and the wife of his mentor, Jay-Z, convinced Kanye West to sign him to his GOOD Music imprint. This culminated in Young's inclusion on West's weekly free music giveaway GOOD Fridays, and his fifth studio albumMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Young recorded his second mixtape, Royal Flush II, with producer CPK, and planned to work further with previous collaborators the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, No I.D. and Kanye West, as well as DJ Toomp, The Alchemist and Just Blaze. Young released his third mixtape, Jack of All Trades, later in 2011, which announced the title of his debut studio album to be Hardway Musical.
Young appeared on GOOD Music's compilation album Cruel Summer, released September 18, 2012. Young was ultimately featured on two tracks, including: "The Morning", along with Raekwon, Common, Pusha T, 2 Chainz, Kid Cudi, and D'banj, as well as "Sin City", alongside John Legend, Teyana Taylor, Malik Yusef, and Travis Scott. On January 29, 2013 he released his fifth mixtape, Ivy League: Kick Back. The tape features guest appearances from 2 Chainz, B.o.B, Travis Porter, Yelawolf, Childish Gambino, Trae Tha Truth and Bobby Valentino among others. Despite not being featured on Kanye West's Yeezus album, Young has writing credits on all but one of the album's songs. CyHi continued to prepare his debut studio album Hardway Musical for release.
2015–present: Label confusion and ''L.I.O.N.''
As of August 2015, CyHi's album had yet to receive a release date. Frustrated with his situation and having been dropped from Def Jam Recordings, he released a diss track called "Elephant in the Room", aimed toward G.O.O.D. Music, its owner Kanye West, Pusha T and Teyana Taylor. On the track, he addresses his album delays and even threatens Kanye: "While you're in your little Lambo on Sunset, I'm riding with a gun next to me and it sounds like a little boy playing with a drum set / And, it holds a hundred rounds 'cause when you come around, niggas quick to gun you down." CyHi would later clarify that the track was not in fact a diss. Rather it was similar to the light-hearted 'insults' that Eminem would inflict on Dr. Dre. An upcoming album to be titled L.I.O.N. was announced amid this increase in media attention, still containing the G.O.O.D. Music imprint's logo, further indicating that CyHi was still with the label, and on good terms. His debut album, No Dope on Sundays, was released on November 17, 2017. It was preceded by the singles "Movin' Around" featuring Schoolboy Q and "Dat Side" featuring Kanye West.
