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| BIOGRAPHY |
Early life
Tramar was born in the 16th Street projects in the Carol City neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida, which is where he gets his name (Flo Rida).[3] As a teenager, Dillard worked with local rap group 2 Live Crew and formed his own amateur group with some friends called the sugar hill gang. 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 2001,[3] he studied international business management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for two years[4] and attended Barry University for two months; Flo Rida justified dropping out of college by pursuing a music career [1] 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 2007, 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]
[edit] Music career
[edit] Mail on Sunday (2008)
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.[5] 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[6] and 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Canada.[7] He appeared on tracks from the albums We Global by DJ Khaled, Gutta by Ace Hood, and The Fame by Lady Gaga, among others.
[edit] R.O.O.T.S. (2009)
According to Billboard magazine, Flo Rida began recording his second 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.[8] 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".[9][10] The second official single is "Sugar".
Appearances in this sophomore album include Ne-Yo, Akon, Wyclef Jean, Pleasure P, Nelly Furtado, Wynter Gordon, and Kesha.
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