Born on September 3, 1992 in New Orleans, Louisiana, August Anthony Alsina, Jr. was known in the future simply as August Alsina. Fearing the affect he would experience due to his father and stepfather's cocaine addiction, her mother took him to Houston, Texas for a brand new start. He spent his teenage years there by uploading videos of himself covering Musiq Soulchild and Lyfe Jennings to YouTube. Much to his surprise, it received positive reviews with thousands of views. A disagreement with his mother led his comeback to his native where he dealt with drugs. The shooting death of his brother in August 2010, became a turning point for him during when he persistently determined to take singing seriously.

Motivated to have a career in music, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia and recorded a mixtape "The Product" which was released in April 2012. Early the following year, his single "I Luv This Shit" which served as the first single from his second mixtape "The Product 2" was released. The song quickly climbed to number 13 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and reached number 48 on the Hot 100. After "The Product 2" hitting the stores in May 2013, Alsina released an EP in August titled "Downtown: Life Under the Gun".

In January 2014, Alsina released "Make It Home". The song was meant as the lead single from his debut studio album "Testimony", which was released on April 15 the same year.