Self Scientific has been played on NTS shows including Ted Draws, with Return first played on 26 May 2017.

The duo of Chace Infinite (Aaron Johnson) and DJ Khalil (Khalil Abdul-Rahman) met each other in Southern California at a basketball camp and reserved some of their energy for off-court activities. In 1994, the two recorded a demo as a group called the Numbskulls and were subsequently signed to a single deal with Loud Records in 1995. Unsatisfied with the attention they were receiving from Loud, they started to roam the underground L.A. music scene, selling mix tapes to whomever would buy them. They eventually helped form a record label called S.O.L. Music Works, Inc. with Frank "Nebula" Correa. Their breakthrough came through when the hip-hop community put their single "Return" in rotation, with its call to bring back hip-hop to where it used to be. The single is also included on their debut album, released in 2001, entitled The Self Science.