On March 25, 2016, he released his debut EP, 130 Mood: TRBL, and multiple collaborations with American and South Korean artists.

He is part of the hip hop crew Fanxy Child with fellow singers Zico, Crush, Penomeco, Millic, and Stay Tuned.

[13] The name originated from actor James Dean, whose rebellious image appealed to him, and the word 'influenza', signifying his desire to make a "viral" impact on the music industry.

[13] At the age of twenty, he was under the tutelage of Joombas Music Group CEO and producer Hyuk Shin, employed with the songwriting team of the Los Angeles-based company whose works include EXO's "Growl" and Justin Bieber's "One Less Lonely Girl".

[2][15][17][18] He debuted in South Korea in October that year, and his second single "Pour Up", featuring Block B's rapper Zico,[14] was named Best R&B and Soul Song at the Korean Music Awards on February 29, 2016.

[47] On February 17, 2017, Dean released his first solo work in eleven months, a single album Limbo,[48] with two tracks, "Come Over" featuring Yerin Baek, and "The Unknown Guest".

[52] At the end of the year, he released the single "Instagram", the song topped all local music charts in South Korea.

[53] In April 2017, Dean also participated in a campaign with Kolon Sport alongside Bae Doo Na, to protect Jeju Island's Leontopodium hallaisanense, which is an endangered flower species.

[55] Later that year in September, Dean also collaborated with Puma, on a campaign called 'Run the Streets', for which he produced a track and starred in a commercial video.

[57] On April 18, 2019, Dean was featured along with labelmate Tabber on ROMderful's song "1 Missed Call" from his debut album Press L To Continue.

[58] On May 25, 2019, Dean released his fourth English language single "Howlin' 404" at the same time of his performance during Seoul Jazz Festival 2019.

[59] On July 12, 2019, it was announced that Dean alongside FANXY CHILD (Zico, Crush, Penomeco, Millic and Stay Tuned) would be holding concerts in Seoul, South Korea at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium on August 10 and 11, 2019 which speculated a comeback for the crew after two years.

[63] On August 4, Dean and labelmate Miso participated in a music collaboration titled "Imagination" with GQ Korea and Burberry for the TB Summer Monogram Collection.

[64] The next day, Dean announced his upcoming label compilation album which was followed by the first single "breath" that features labelmates Rad Museum and Mokyo.

[65] On August 10, Dean collaborated on the track "3AM Freestyle" with labelmate Tabber and South Korean rapper Kim Ximya which was uploaded to you.will.knovv's YouTube channel.

[67] Dean co-directed Tabber's music video for "Look At My/Like A Vampire" with Russian photographer and visual artist Anton Reva which was released on September 8.

[11][79] U.S. magazine Spin wrote that "the Bryson Tiller-indebted youngster – and recent Universal signee – had some attendees comparing him to a young Usher.