Flo Rida

Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Dillard was born on September 16, 1979, and lived in the Carol City neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida with his parents and family.

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 Dillard 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."

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 considers this period his schooling.

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.

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 The Eastside Boyz, as featuring artist in 2000.

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.

However, he was rejected by several of the major labels, so he sought a number of other jobs outside of music.

In year 2004, he began affiliating himself for 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.

His 2007 breakout single "Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital download sales at the time of its release.

He made his debut 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 studio album, 2008's Mail on Sunday, reached number four in the US.

The album was succeeded by R.O.O.T.S., the next year.

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.

His subsequent albums, 2010's Only One Flo (Part 1) and 2012's Wild Ones, also charted on the US 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".

He represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, together with Senhit.