On May 5, 2016, producer Mike Dean announced that he would be serving as the executive producer for Desiigner's upcoming debut studio album. On May 24, Desiigner announced that the title to his upcoming debut album would be called The Life of Desiigner. In June 2016, XXL magazine revealed their annual "Freshmen Class" for 2016, and Desiigner was included on the list with nine other new artists. In June 2016, "Champions" was released as the lead single from the GOOD Music's upcoming compilation album, Cruel Winter. Desiigner made a guest appearance on this track, alongside his label-mate Kanye West, and other rappers such as Gucci Mane, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Travis Scott, Yo Gotti and Quavo. In the same month, Desiigner made his US television debut, when he performed his single, "Panda" at the 2016's BET Awards. On June 26, 2016, Desiigner released his first full-length mixtape, titled New English on Tidal, following a live premiere of the mixtape on June 22. In July 2016, American pop singer Demi Lovato brought out Desiigner at her concert in New York. On July 21, 2016, Desiigner premiered the track, called "Tiimmy Turner", which was released as a single on iTunes the next day. Desiigner appeared as a special guest on the Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World. On November 7, 2017 it was reported that BTS will release a remix of their song "Mic Drop" featuring Desiigner and it was said that the remix was made by Steve Aoki. It is set to be released on November 17, 2017 but it was postponed and set to be released on November 24, 2017 instead.