Like Vega, the Brooklyn-born Gonzalez was prolific on his own before and during the partnership, and started out as a DJ. In the '80s, Gonzalez founded the Dope Wax label while doing production for several New York dance labels, including Big Beat, Cutting, Nervous, and Strictly Rhythm (home to his releases as the Untouchables). Masters at Work actually began around this time, originating as a partnership between Gonzalez and Mike Delgado; the two organized parties under the name. A few years after Gonzalez aligned himself with Vega, he established the Bucketheads, a studio project that released a string of extremely successful singles and a pair of full-lengths. Both "The Bomb" and "Got Myself Together" topped Billboard's U.S. club chart.

Gonzalez released several solo productions under his own name throughout the early 2000s, through the Tu Chicks, Freeze, and TNT labels. His skills as a DJ were demonstrated with a pair of impressive releases for the U.K.'s BBE label, too: 1998's Hip Hop Forever was a triple-disc set, including an early-'90s-centric mix on one disc and the selections in full on the other two. The similarly formatted Disco Heat came four years later, which focused on underground disco and house classics from the late '70s. Throughout the remainder of the decade, he was a go-to DJ for quality mix albums. His highlights included Roller Boogie 80's (Traffic, 2004), Life:Styles (Harmless, 2004), Randy Muller's Best (Plaza, 2005), Choice: A Collection of Classics (Azuli, 2006), and Mixes P&P Records (P&P, 2007).