Best known for his affiliation with hometown native and fellow East Coast rapper Nas, they formed the New York City-based hip hop group the Firm along with Foxy Brown, Cormega and Nature in 1996.

Its lead single, "Sugar Hill" (featuring Miss Jones) peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[2] The latter contained the song "The Essence" (featuring Nas), which earned a nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.

[citation needed] Doe or Die was known for popularizing the theme of mafioso rap, alongside several albums, namely Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt and Nas's It Was Written.

[8] The album was mostly well received by critics, one such positive review from Brad Mills at Allmusic, states: "AZ has been looked upon to do amazing things with his music.

[citation needed] AZ's sixth studio album The Format features production from Lil' Fame of M.O.P., Face Defeat, Emile, J. Cardim, Phonte, Statik Selektah and DJ Premier.

The Format also features the bonus track "Royal Salute", a retaliation to 50 Cent's song "What If" which included a line aimed at AZ.

[citation needed] On October 7, 2007, Quiet Money released The Format (Special Edition), adding six bonus tracks including "Royal Salute".

AZ also had ambitions on trying to acquire beats from DJ Toomp, Dr. Dre and Kanye West for the album, as well as reaching out to his old rhyme partner Nas.

In 2010, Dr. Dre and Kanye West were said to be too busy to produce for the album, but AZ said he was patiently waiting for them to complete their next solo records so they could join the production team.

[14] The album's production includes tracks from Statik Selektah, Baby Paul and the original Doe or Die team of beatsmiths L.E.S., DR Period, Pete Rock, and Buckwild.