Flo Rida

Flo Rida
Flo Rida at WSPK's KFest, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Tramar Dillard
Born	September 17, 1979 (1979-09-17) (age 30)
Origin	Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres	hip hop, pop
Occupations	Rapper
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Poe Boy/Atlantic
Associated acts	DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, T-Pain,2 Live Crew, Brisco, will.i.am, birdman, Lil Wayne
Website	www.officialflo.com

Tramar Dillard (born September 17, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (pronounced /ˌfloʊ ˈraɪdə/, from Florida), is an American rapper. As a teenager, he toured with local rap group 2 Live Crew.^[1][2] Later, he appeared in numerous popular rap mixtapes and studio albums, most notably in We the Best in 2006. Mail on Sunday was Flo Rida's solo debut album; its first single "Low", featuring T-Pain which was a #1 hit for ten weeks in early 2008. Two other singles resulted from Mail on Sunday: "Elevator" and "In the Ayer". In 2009, his second album R.O.O.T.S. was released; its most successful single "Right Round" was at the top of the Hot 100 for six weeks. He so far spawned six top twenty singles in his career span on the Billboard Hot 100 chart within only two years.

Early life

Dillard was born in the city of Carol City, Florida. As a teenager, Dillard worked with local rap group 2 Live Crew and formed his own amateur group with some friends called the Groundhoggz. His work with 2 Live Crew member Fresh Kid Ice attracted attention of DeVante Swing, a member of the band Jodeci. However, he was rejected by several of the major labels, so he sought many other jobs outside of music. After graduating from high school in 1998, he studied international business management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for two years^[3] and attended Barry University for two months; Flo Rida justified dropping out of college by pursuing a music career, He returned to his home state of Florida to continue pursuing his music career after receiving a phone call from a representative of the independent label Poe Boy Entertainment.^[1] Dillard signed with Poe Boy in 2006, and began affiliating himself with other Florida rappers, such as Rick Ross, Trina, T-Pain and Trick Daddy. A promotional street single entitled "Birthday", featuring Rick Ross, was his first significant release. He would make his mainstream debut with the song "Bitch I'm from Dade County" on DJ Khaled's album We the Best, which also had Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, Brisco, C-Ride, and Dre.^[2]

Music career

Mail on Sunday (2007–08)

Flo Rida received worldwide acclaim and popularity due to the chart-topping success of his first single, "Low", featuring T-Pain. It was his first official single from his debut album Mail On Sunday and the soundtrack to the movie Step Up 2 The Streets. "Low" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[2] "Elevator", featuring Timbaland, "In the Ayer" featuring will.i.am, and "Roll" featuring Sean Kingston followed and all charted on the Hot 100 and other charts.^[4] He also collaborated with many other well-known artists in the hip-hop industry, such as Rick Ross, Birdman, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, and Yung Joc.

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^[5] and 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Canada.^[6] He appeared on tracks from the albums We Global by DJ Khaled, Gutta by Ace Hood, and The Fame by Lady Gaga, among others.

R.O.O.T.S. (2009)

According to Billboard magazine, Flo Rida began recording his sophomore album nine months after Mail On Sunday. The album is titled R.O.O.T.S. (Route of Overcoming the Struggle) and was released on March 31, 2009. Producers include J Rock, Dr. Luke and DJ Montay.^[7] on February 18, 2009 Flo Rida got his second number-one hit "Right Round", the first single from R.O.O.T.S.. "Right Round" jumped from number 58 to the top spot in just one week. The song also broke a record for the most digital one week sales, with 636,000, beating the previous record he had set himself with "Low".^[8] The second official single was "Sugar", which featured R&B singer Wynter Gordon. The single peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard 100 in April.

Controversy

Feud with Yung Berg

In April 2008, Chicago based rapper Yung Berg criticized Flo Rida for his 'hairline being pushed back' when his album was not set for his opinion of release. However, Brisco then after posted a video response, defending his labelmate and Berg later then apologized.^[9]

Discography

• Mail on Sunday (2008)
• R.O.O.T.S. (2009)
• Third studio album (2010)

Awards and nominations

• American Music Awards^[10]
  • 2008: Breakthrough Performer (Nominated)
  • 2008: Favorite Male Hip-Hop Artist (Nominated)

• MuchMusic Video Awards^[11]
  • 2008: Best International Video - Artist "Low" (Nominated)

• BET Awards^[12]
  • 2008: Best New Artist (Nominated)
  • 2008: Best Collaboration: "Low" with T-Pain (Nominated)

• BET Hip Hop Awards^[13]
  • 2008: Ringtone of the Year: "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)
  • 2008: Best Hip Hop Collabo: "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)
  • 2008: Rookie of the Year (Nominated)

• Teen Choice Awards^[14]
  • 2009: Choice Music: Best Hip Hop/Rap Track - Right Round (Nominated)
  • 2008: Choice Music: Hook-Up - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)
  • 2008: Choice Music: Rap Artist (Nominated)
  • 2008: Choice Music: Breakout Artist (Nominated)

• MTV Video Music Awards^[15]
  • 2009: Best Hip Hop Video - "Right Round" (Nominated)
  • 2008: Best Male Video - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)
  • 2008: Best Hip Hop Video - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)

• Grammy Awards^[16]
  • 2009: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)
  • 2009: Best Rap Song - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)

• People's Choice Awards^[17]
  • 2009: Favorite Hip Hop Song - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Won)
  • 2010 Hip Hop Artist Of The Year - Himself (Nominated)

• MTV Australia Awards^[18]
  • 2009: Best Video - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)
  • 2009: Best Collaboration - "Running Back" by Jessica Mauboy featuring Flo Rida (Nominated)

• MOBO Awards^[19]
  • 2009: Best Song - "Low" featuring T-Pain (Nominated)

• Ozone Awards^[20]
  • 2008: Breakthrough Artist (Nominated)
  • 2008: Club Banger of the Year, "Low" with T-Pain (Nominated)

References

External links

• Official site
• Interview with illRoots
• PP2G.TV Video Interview with Flo Rida (May 2009)
• Works by or about Flo Rida in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Flo Rida at MySpace
• Flo Rida on Twitter
• Flo Rida at YouTube
• Flo Rida at LyricWiki