“1-Luv” was released as the lead single to E-40’s 1995 album In A Major Way. The single peaked at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100, #51 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and #4 on the Hot Rap Songs chart.

In a 2011 interview with Complex, E-40 talked about the inspiration behind the track:

That was an actual phone call [on the beginning of the song]. That was my cousin Kaveo, he was in the pen at that time, and he was like, ‘This yo patna mayne!’ Kaveo was telling me about the things he was going through while he was in there.

I said, ‘Lemme dedicate this to the incarcerated playas in the game. Lemme just explain life, go through the hard times, and cover every part of the game.’ That’s why a lot of people in the penitentiary feel me, because they can relate to the shit I was saying. […] I dedicated it to the struggle and all the people that’s incarcerated, all the incarcerated soldiers out there.