Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Roland Powell adopted the stage name "Lil Duval" to pay homage to his hometown Duval county. Powell got his start doing stand-up in Atlanta where he became a regular at the Uptown Comedy Corner.

After performing at the Oakland Bay Area Competition in 2001, Powell was approached by Cedric the Entertainer's road manager and was invited to perform on the Budweiser tour with Cedric, as well as the television special Cedric the Entertainer: Starting Lineup.

In 2003, he released the underground comedy DVD Dat Boy Funny. Soon after, Powell became a regular featured performer on 3 seasons of BET's ComicView. In 2005, Powell released his second DVD Put Your Hands on Me and appeared in Three 6 Mafia's independent film, Choices II: The Setup.

In addition to stand-up comedy, Powell also writes for Ozone magazine and has appeared in music videos for T.I., Big Kuntry King, Yung Joc, and Young Jeezy. Duval uses the catchphrase "Wat Dat Mouf Do".

He released his first solo single and music video on April 1, 2014 entitled "Wat Dat Mouf Do?" featuring Trae tha Truth. In 2018, Duval released "Smile (Living My Best Life)" featuring Snoop Dogg and Ball Greezy, and the single peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100.