He began songwriting in 2010, and has co-written singles including "Lemme See" by Usher, "New Flame" by Chris Brown, "Right Here" by Justin Bieber, "On Chill" by Wale, and "Music Sounds Better with U" by Big Time Rush.[3] Bellinger was raised in Los Angeles, California, but attended schools in the Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs area, where he met his future manager Nieman Johnson.[4] Bellinger had earned a football scholarship to University of Southern California, but rejected the offer to record and tour with R&B group AKNU.The group was signed to Epic Records by executives Max Gousse and Tommy Mottola, and in 2010 he was invited to work with songwriting collective The Writing Camp by childhood friend and mentor Erika Nuri.[5][6] Bellinger first co-wrote for pop acts such as Selena Gomez and the Scene, Jacob Latimore, and Big Time Rush, until 2012 when he contributed to the song "Death Penalty" on Los Angeles rapper The Game's mixtape California Republic.[27][28] Bellinger and Good met in the early 2000s in Los Angeles, where both were working on music with the same manager before losing contact for a few years; they re-connected later.