Background and career
Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( floh RY-də), is an American rapper and singer. Dillard began rapping professionally in the early 2000s and gained recognition with his five mixtapes between 2003 and 2007 . His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low" was number 1 for ten weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital download sales at the time of its release. Flo Rida's debut album, 2008's Mail on Sunday, reached number 4 in the U.S. The album was succeeded by R.O.O.T.S., the next year. His subsequent albums, 2010's Only One Flo (Part 1) and 2012's Wild Ones, also charted on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Flo Rida has sold over 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists. His catalog includes the international hit singles "Right Round", "Club Can't Handle Me", "Good Feeling", "Wild Ones", "Whistle", "I Cry", "G.D.F.R.", and "My House". Together with Italian singer Senhit he represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Adrenalina", finishing in 22nd place.
Flo Rida was born as Tramar Lacel Dillard on September 16, 1979, in the Carol City neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida. He has seven sisters, the youngest of whom is his twin. Some of his sisters sang in a local gospel group. His brother-in-law was a hype man for local rap group 2 Live Crew, and while in ninth grade, Flo Rida joined an amateur rap group called the GroundHoggz. The GroundHoggz had been a three-man group, with members who lived in the same apartment complex as Flo Rida. They started recording at underground studios in Carver Ranches. The GroundHoggz, in this four-man incarnation, remained together for eight years. Early on in his career one of his sisters, Julia, died due to bronchitis. Her death greatly affected Flo Rida and his career, with him telling MTV, "I was very close to her, and I told myself that I was going to do this for my sister."After graduating from high school in 1998, he studied international business management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for two months and attended Barry University for two months.
2002–2009: Career beginnings and mixtapes While he was performing, rapper Fresh Kid Ice took notice and asked him to be his hype man, and shortly after he took him for a show in Hawaii. Flo Rida made his debut guest appearance with the songs in legs up, liqueur talking and let me see it. With The GroundHoggz, they were featured guests on Fresh Kid Ice's album Freaky Chinese (2004). Flo Rida's work with Fresh Kid Ice attracted the attention of DeVante Swing, a member of the band Jodeci. Between 2003 and 2007 he began releasing his mixtapes first flo, R.I.D.A, second flo, florida cash cartel and mr birthday man. He returned to Florida to continue pursuing his music career after receiving a phone call from a representative of the independent label Poe Boy Entertainment. Flo Rida was associated with Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, as featuring artist in 2000. In year 2004, he began affiliating himself with other Southern hip-hop artists, such as Rick Ross, Trina, T-Pain, and Trick Daddy. A promotional single entitled "Birthday", featuring Rick Ross, was his first significant release. He made his second guest appearance with the song "Bitch I'm From Dade County" on DJ Khaled's album We the Best (2007), which also features Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, Brisco, C-Ride, and Dre.
Flo Rida's debut album, Mail on Sunday, was released on March 18, 2008. The first single was "Low", featuring T-Pain, which was also included in the soundtrack to the movie Step Up 2: The Streets. "Low" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Elevator", featuring Timbaland, "In the Ayer" featuring will.i.am, and "Roll" featuring Sean Kingston followed, and both charted on the Hot 100 and other charts. In addition to T-Pain, there were many featured guests throughout Mail on Sunday. Timbaland, who produced the second single "Elevator", is also featured on the track. Rick Ross, and Trey Songz made appearances as well. Lil Wayne appeared on the track "American Superstar", while Sean Kingston appeared on the J. R. Rotem-produced "Roll", which was co-written by Compton rapper Spitfiya. Various other guests include Birdman, Brisco, and Yung Joc. "Money Right", featuring Brisco and Rick Ross, was scheduled to be the fourth single, but this was canceled due to the upcoming release of Flo Rida's second studio album, R.O.O.T.S. His second collaboration with T-Pain, "I Bet", as well as his collaboration with Trina, named "Bout It", both did not make the final tracklist, but were recorded. After the success of Mail on Sunday, Flo Rida made guest performances on other R&B, rap, and pop singles, including "Move Shake Drop" by DJ Laz, "We Break the Dawn" by Michelle Williams, the remix of "4 Minutes" by Madonna, "Running Back" by Australian R&B singer Jessica Mauboy, "Feel It" by DJ Felli Fel, and the remix of "Speedin'" by Rick Ross. During the summer of 2008, he did live performances on the Fox dance competition program So You Think You Can Dance in the US and 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Canada. He appeared on the albums We Global by DJ Khaled, Gutta by Ace Hood, and The Fame by Lady Gaga.
Flo Rida began recording his second album, R.O.O.T.S., 9 months after Mail On Sunday. The album was released on March 31, 2009. The first single, "Right Round" featuring Kesha, was released for airplay in January 2009. "Right Round" jumped from number 58 to the top spot in one week in late February. The song broke a record for the most digital one week sales in the US, with 636,000, beating the previous record he had set himself with "Low". "Right Round" sampled "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", a 1985 hit by British band Dead or Alive. "Right Round" also became Flo Rida's first chart-topping song in the United Kingdom. The second official single was "Sugar", which featured R&B singer Wynter Gordon. The song reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Jump", featuring singer Nelly Furtado, was the third official single and was released on July 27, 2009, in the United Kingdom, and July 28, 2009, worldwide. "Be on You", featuring singer Ne-Yo, was the album's fourth official single, released on October 6, 2009. Both songs charted in the top 100 in various countries. "Available", featuring Akon, was going to be released on iTunes but was cancelled. A music video was, however, shot in mid-2009. R.O.O.T.S. debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 55,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2009, the album has sold 223,000 copies in the United States, and 536,000 worldwide. By the end of 2009, the album sold 247,000 copies in the US, becoming the eighth best-selling rap album of 2009. Flo Rida made guest performances on "Feel It" by DJ Felli Fel, "Starstruck" by Lady Gaga, and "Feel It" by Three 6 Mafia. "Bad Boys", the second song by winner of season 5 of the British TV singing competition The X Factor Alexandra Burke that featured Flo Rida, debuted at the top of the UK Singles Chart in October 2009, becoming both Burke's and Flo Rida's second chart-topping song in Britain.
Flo Rida's third album Only One Flo (Part 1) was released on November 24, 2010. In March 2010, Flo Rida announced on Twitter that the album would be titled The Only One. Billboard reported that The Only One was to be a double album. A promo single, titled "Zoosk Girl", which features T-Pain, was released on the internet; though the song is not featured on the album, the single does have its own music video. On June 28, 2010, Flo Rida released the song "Club Can't Handle Me" featuring David Guetta, which was stated to be the official first single for the album. The song was also featured in the Step Up 3D soundtrack. On November 2, 2010, "Come with Me" was released as the first promo single for the album, along with "Puzzle", produced, and featuring by Electrixx, which is not featured on the album. On November 16, 2010, "Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)" was released as the second official promo single for the album via the iTunes Store. It debuted on the Australian Singles Chart at number 34 on November 29, 2010. After the release of the album in the UK, "Who Dat Girl" started to receive a strong number of downloads, thus causing it to debut at number 136 on the UK Singles Chart and chart at a current peak of number 31 on the UK R&B Chart. "Why You Up In Here" was released as the fourth single, and third promo single, on May 11, 2011. The song features Ludacris, Gucci Mane, and Git Fresh. Flo Rida also made guest appearances on "iYiYi", a song by Australian teen singer Cody Simpson, and on the song "Out My Video" by Bulgarian singer LiLana. Flo Rida collaborated with UK girl group The Saturdays, recording a new version of their single, "Higher". In December 2010, Flo Rida created his own label, International Music Group, inspired by Nicki Minaj's signing with Lil Wayne's. He has signed an 18-year-old rapper, Brianna and Git Fresh to International.
