At 13, producing his first tracks on his Casio CZ101 Keyboard and an E-mu SP-1200, Martin was encouraged to take up the saxophone and learned to play it by himself before enrolling into Santa Monica High School, to sharpen his musical skills. He grew up listening to a broad range of music, including John Coltrane and Parliament and began playing the piano at age six.
Martin's father is a jazz drummer and his mother is a singer. Martin recently released his sixth studio album Velvet Portraits on his newly formed label, Sounds of Crenshaw Records, through Ropeadope Records. Martin is a multi-instrumentalist, whose music production embodies everything from funk and jazz to classical and soul.
He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists, such as Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, The Game, Busta Rhymes, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Wilson, Raphael Saadiq and YG among others. Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American two-time Grammy Award winning artist and music producer.