Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has been a driving force in alternative hip hop since the mid-1990s, producing for rappers including Aesop Rock, Cage, and Mr. Lif.

After releasing four solo studio albums that were critically acclaimed—Fantastic Damage (2002), High Water (2004), I'll Sleep When You're Dead (2007), and Cancer 4 Cure (2012)—El-P began experiencing mainstream success in 2013 when he formed the hip hop superduo Run the Jewels with fellow rapper Killer Mike.

[4] El-P's parents divorced when he was seven years old, and he later wrote the song "Last Good Sleep" about once hearing his mother being assaulted by his drunken stepfather in the next room and not realizing what had happened until the next day.

[4] El-P was expelled from two high schools for various issues, including his refusal to stop wearing his baseball cap backwards.

El-P decided to start his own record label, Definitive Jux (known informally as Def Jux, and extra-formally as Definitive Juxtapositions), and because of critically acclaimed albums such as Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein (produced by El-P) and Aesop Rock's Labor Days, the label rose to prominence.

[citation needed] Company Flow dissolved amicably in 2001 and the following year El-P released his debut solo album Fantastic Damage, to critical acclaim.

2005 saw the release of Collecting the Kid, an odds-and-ends assortment including work from High Water and Bomb the System, in addition to several songs of unknown provenance.

In the fall of 2010, the EP Forever Frozen in Television Time, was released exclusively on the Def Jux digital download service.

[24] El-P has contributed productions and guest rhymes to albums by Aesop Rock, Evil Nine, DJ Krush, Murs, Cage, Mr. Lif, Prefuse 73, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Mike Ladd, The High and Mighty, Jedi Mind Tricks, Aceyalone, Atmosphere, Techno Animal, and Das Racist.

He was selected, along with DJ Shadow and Trent Reznor, to work on Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha's solo album (which never materialized).

He produced The Veils album Total Depravity, with the song Axolotl later appearing in David Lynch's new series of Twin Peaks.

[31] El-P's rapping style is characterized by dense, aggressive, and verbose attacks that include heavy use of metaphors, sci-fi fantasy themes, pop culture references, and associative wordplay.

His lyrics often feature themes found in the works of sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, such as paranoia and questions about the nature of reality.

[32] Reviewing his 2002 album Fantastic Damage, critic Steve Huey described El-P as "one of the most technically gifted MCs of his time, spitting out near-impossible phrases and rhythmic variations that simply leave the listener's head spinning".