Flo Rida Biography

Summary

"Tramar Dillard", better known by his stage name " Flo Rida", is a Haitian-American rapper and singer. Later, he appeared 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 United States 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. Since then, he has released a mini-album titled 'Only One Flo (Part 1)', which will see a sequel titled 'Only One Rida (Part 2)'.

Early life

Tramar Dillard was born in the 187th Street projects of Carol City, Florida. His single mother raised him and his seven sisters, some of whom sang in a local gospel group. Dillard's brother-in-law was a hypeman for local rap group 2 Live Crew, and, while in Ninth Grade, Dillard 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 and attended Barry University for two months. 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. Dillard signed with Poe Boy in 2006, and as Flo Rida he began affiliating with other artists, 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 made his debut guest appearance with the song 'Bitch I'm from Dade County' on DJ Khaled's album "We the Best", which featured Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, Brisco, C-Ride, and Dre.

Music career

"Mail on Sunday" (2007-08)

Rehearsing for the 2008 in .

Flo Rida's first single was '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. '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.

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 "starstruck" by Lady Gaga, among others.

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

According to, "Billboard" magazine, Flo Rida began recording his sophomore nine months after "Mail On Sunday". The album is titled "R.O.O.T.S." and was released on March 31, 2009. The first single 'Right Round' featured Ke$ha and 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 U.S., 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 Dead or Alive. The second official single was 'Sugar', which featured R&B singer Wynter Gordon. The song reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other singles were 'Jump' featuring Nelly Furtado, which reached #54 on the Hot 100 and was the promotional single for the animated film "G-Force", and 'Be On You' featuring Ne-Yo, which reached #19 on the Hot 100. In addition to singles from his own album, 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 first single by winner of British reality show "The X Factor" Alexandra Burke that featured Flo Rida, debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart in October.

"Only One Flo (Part 1)" (2010)

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. 'Club Can't Handle Me', produced by David Guetta, was the first official single and reached #9 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the Uni States. 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 the girl's single, 'Higher'.

In December 2010, the Associated Press reported that Flo Rida had 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.