Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He first gained recognition for his guest appearance on fellow Houston rapper Travis Scott's highly acclaimed third album Astroworld (2018), as Toliver released his debut mixtape, Donny Womack a day prior.
He later became known for his singles as a lead artist: "No Idea" in 2019 and "After Party" in 2020, the latter of which received viral popularity on the video-hosting service TikTok. His debut studio album, Heaven or Hell (2020) and its sequels Life of a Don (2021) and Love Sick (2023) were met with favorable reviews and commercial success. In August 2020, he was featured alongside Nav and Gunna on the song "Lemonade" by Internet Money, becoming his first top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Early life
Toliver was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He had no musical experience prior to releasing music in 2017. His father was a rapper during the Swishahouse movement in the early 2000s, and would commonly play music around him growing up.
Career
2017: Playa Familia and singles
On May 17, 2017, Toliver released a collaborative mixtape, titled Playa Familia, with Yungjosh93. In late 2017, Toliver released the solo singles, "I Gotta" and "Diva". In March 2018, he signed to Atlantic Records and rapper Chedda Da Connect's record label We Run It Entertainment, in conjunction with Artist Partner Group. Also in early 2018, Toliver released "Make Sumn" and "Checks", with a music video.
2018–2020: Breakthrough, Cactus Jack and Heaven or Hell
In July 2018, Toliver released the single "Holdin' Steel" featuring Dice Soho. The song was also accompanied by a music video. On August 2, Toliver released his major label debut mixtape, Donny Womack, along with a music video for the song "Diamonds".
The following day, on August 3, 2018, Travis Scott released his third studio album, Astroworld, on which Toliver was featured on the 13th track, "Can't Say". The single was later accompanied by a video that was sponsored by Yves Saint Laurent. On August 6, it was announced that Toliver had signed to Scott's Cactus Jack imprint label. Toliver appeared alongside Scott, Nav, Sheck Wes and Gunna in the music video for Nav’s single "Champion", which Scott was featured on. In September, his single "Diva" was later remixed by rapper Kevin Gates.
After his appearance on Astroworld, Toliver released several singles under the Cactus Jack label throughout 2019 including: "Back Up" featuring Wiz Khalifa, "Best You Had", "Can't Feel My Legs", and "No Idea". The song "No Idea" eventually became a viral sensation on social media/video sharing platform TikTok. In November 2019, Toliver accompanied Scott during the second Astroworld Festival. On December 13, Toliver released the music video for "Can't Feel My Legs". On December 27, Toliver along with other Cactus Jack members, known as JackBoys, released the compilation album JackBoys. Toliver, alongside Scott and Luxury Tax, contributed on the songs "Gang Gang" with Wes, "Had Enough" by Toliver featuring Quavo and Offset of the hip hop trio Migos, and "What to Do?" by JackBoys and Scott featuring Toliver.
On January 17, 2020, Toliver was featured on American rapper Eminem's eleventh studio album, Music to Be Murdered By, on the song "No Regrets". On February 21, Toliver was announced to open for The Weeknd's After Hours Tour alongside Sabrina Claudio.
On March 10, 2020, Toliver announced his debut studio album, Heaven or Hell, on social media and announced its release date. The album was released three days later on March 13 and features guest appearances from Travis Scott, Kaash Paige, Quavo, Offset, and Sheck Wes.
On May 8, 2020, Toliver was featured on Nav's song "Recap", from the latter's third studio album, Good Intentions.
On July 24, 2020, Toliver and his DJ Chase B released a collaborative single titled "Cafeteria", featuring Gunna, from their upcoming collaborative project, Escapism. Exactly one week later, on July 31, he released a song titled "Clap", for the soundtrack of the film F9, in which the soundtrack was released on the same day and the song became the seventh single.