Bronx-native Tarsha Vega parlayed her childhood interest in music and dance into a career when she was introduced to Pop Rox, aka Duke Mushroom and the Freshmaka, who needed a female singer for some of the tracks on their Warriors album. Impressed with her voice as well as her creative, uplifting lyrics, they helped her with her own music. Legendary songwriter Carole King was another mentor/collaborator on Vega's 2001 debut album Diamonds and Monsters, which was preceded by the 2000 single Be Ya Self.