Background and career
Nicholas Scott Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American comedian, actor, and rapper. He began his career on Nickelodeon's All That before going on to host Wild 'n Out, America's Got Talent, Lip Sync Battle Shorties, and The Masked Singer. Cannon's 2003 single "Gigolo" (featuring R. Kelly) peaked within the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 and led his self-titled debut studio album. His second album White People Party Music (2014) was released by his NCredible Entertainment label.
Cannon was born on October 8, 1980, in San Diego, California. He was largely raised by his paternal grandfather, whom both he and his biological father called "dad". As a child, he grew up in Lincoln Park's Bay Vista Housing Projects, a gang-ridden section of Southeast San Diego. While in his teenage years, Cannon was affiliated with the Lincoln Park Bloods street gang, but stated that he left behind his affiliations after losing a close friend. In 1998, he graduated from Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, California, where he was president of the African Student Coalition and participated in track and field. Cannon received his first break doing stand-up comedy on his father's local cable public access TV program.
As a teenager, Cannon was one-third of the rap group "Da G4 Dope Bomb Squad", they opened for the likes of Will Smith, LFO, 98 Degrees, and Montell Jordan. After signing with Jive Records in 2001, he was featured alongside Romeo Miller and 3LW on the Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius soundtrack with a cover of the 1988 hit song "Parents Just Don't Understand". His debut self titled album was released in 2003 and included the single "Your Pops Don't Like Me (I Really Don't Like This Dude)". In 2005, Cannon formed his own record label, Can-I-Ball Records, with plans to release his second studio album, entitled Stages, later that year. The album's first single, "Can I Live?", an anti-abortion (pro-life) song, was released in July 2005 followed by the second single "Dime Piece" in March 2006. It was never released because of Cannon's acting career.
In 2009, Cannon formed a new label, NCredible Entertainment, after cancelling his old label Can-I-Ball Records. In 2010, Cannon created a parody of hip hop pioneer Slick Rick entitled "Slick Nick". He released two songs by the character such as "I'm a Slick Rick", a freestyle of Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie" in which he attempted to diss hip hop mega-star Eminem, and "Nick's Story", a freestyle rap version of Slick Rick's "Children's Story". On December 6, 2011, Cannon released his debut mixtape entitled Child of the Corn.
On July 26, 2013, Cannon premiered his new single "Me Sexy" and announced over seven years after the shelving of his album Stages that he was working on a new second studio album entitled White People Party Music featuring collaborations with Afrojack, Pitbull, Future and Polow da Don. The album's second single "Looking for a Dream" was released on February 11, 2014. The song features Afrojack. The music video was released on VEVO on February 13. On November 16, 2016, Cannon released his second mixtape The Gospel of Ike Turn Up: My Side of the Story. Prior to the release of the mixtape, a music video for the single "If I Was Your Man" was released on November 7, 2016. On December 2, 2016, Cannon released a single called "Hold On" on iTunes. Cannon released "The Invitation", an Eminem diss track, on December 9, 2019, as a response to Eminem's feature on Fat Joe and Dre's "Lord Above" dissing Cannon. The track featured former record producer and convicted felon Suge Knight, as well as rappers Hitman Holla, Charlie Clips and Prince Eazy, whom Cannon referred to as "The Black Squad". After Eminem responded to Cannon with two tweets, Cannon released a second diss track the next day featuring the same rappers as well as Conceited titled "Pray For Him", followed by another solo diss track entitled "The Invitation Canceled"
In 2005, Cannon created, produced, and hosted the MTV improv comedy series Wild 'n Out. That same year he hosted the so-called slime stunt on Nickelodeon's 2005 Kids' Choice Awards in which a human cannonball was shot into slime. In addition, he was the DJ on Ellen DeGeneres's Bigger, Longer, And Wider show. On December 11, 2009, Cannon hosted the Nickelodeon HALO Awards along with Justin Timberlake, Hayden Panettiere, LeBron James, Kelly Rowland and Alicia Keys. In 2010, Cannon created and co-hosted the TeenNick original series The Nightlife. On July 4, 2011, Cannon hosted the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, an annual American competitive eating competition. On November 12, 2012, MTV2 announced the revival of Wild 'N Out. The revived show was produced by Cannon's NCredible Entertainment, the series premiered in 2013 with a few returning faces joined by a roster of fresh talents. When asked about the show coming back, Cannon said, "With our show's original cast, everyone from Kevin Hart to Katt Williams, Affion Crockett and Taran Killam becoming household names, I am looking forward to working with MTV2 as we work to introduce the biggest comedic stars of tomorrow with the return of Wild 'N Out." Season 5 of the show premiered on July 9, 2013, to the highest ratings in MTV2 history. It was renewed for season 6 and 7, which aired in two blocks. Meanwhile on December 1, 2012, Cannon would launch and host the TeenNick Top 10 on TeenNick as part of his executive role with the network. The program counted down ten popular videos of the week, often with Cannon's input also a part of the week's playlist. The series would air until March 17, 2018, when TeenNick phased out all original programming. On November 4, 2013, Cannon was the master of ceremonies as well as an honoree at the annual Ebony Magazine Power 100 Awards. In 2014, he began hosting Caught on Camera with Nick Cannon on NBC. On August 4, 2016, Wild 'N Out returned for its 8th season after three record-breaking seasons. On February 3, 2021, Cannon tested positive for COVID-19, leading to Niecy Nash temporarily filling in for him during his quarantine during the fifth season of The Masked Singer. He returned to hosting duty after competing as the wild card contestant "Bulldog" in the fifth episode and was eliminated by Nash's choice. Cannon unmasked without the panelists having to make their final guesses. In 2019, it was announced that Cannon would be debuting his own syndicated daytime talk show in 2020 via Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury and Cannon's own production company, NCredible Entertainment. After taking a brief hiatus due to his controversy, the show, Nick Cannon, premiered on September 27, 2021, with the Fox Television Stations as a key group. The show was canceled in March 2022.
