He then signed with Bungalo and Universal Records to release his third album, So Much Better (2007), which moderately entered the Billboard 200, while his fourth, Conquer (2011)—released by Verve Forecast—narrowly did so.

One such performance caught the eye of Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed Thomas to Bad Boy Entertainment in 1997.

With the song topping the R&B charts for six consecutive weeks and creating strong interest, his debut album, Emotional, was released on April 18, 2000.

Later, rapper Jay-Z interpolated Thomas's "I Wish" on "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" from his 2000 album The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.

Lack of promotion (caused by the death of Thomas's brother Duranthony Evans, who was killed in a drive-by on Halloween night on Aurora's east side) was a contributing factor.

In October 2004, following the release of Thomas's album Let's Talk About It, his brother Duranthony Evans, who worked as a corrections officer at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles, was killed in a drive-by shooting.