Flo Rida is an American rapper from Carol City, Florida, born in 1979. He is associated with hip hop, rap, dirty south and southern rap, and is also linked with dance-pop, electronic, electropop, hip house and pop rap.

Background

Flo Rida is the stage name of Tramar Dillard. He grows up in Carol City and is raised by his single mother alongside seven sisters, some of whom sing in a local gospel group. As a teenager he works with the local rap group 2 Live Crew and forms an amateur group called the Groundhoggz with friends. His early work with 2 Live Crew member Fresh Kid Ice attracts attention from DeVante Swing of Jodeci.

He studies international business management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for two years after high school, and later attends Barry University for two months. After being rejected by major labels, he works outside music before returning to Florida to pursue his career after a call from Poe Boy Entertainment. He signs to Poe Boy in 2006 and begins working with other Florida rappers including Rick Ross, Trina, T-Pain and Trick Daddy.

Recording career

His first significant release is the promotional street single “Birthday”, featuring Rick Ross. He makes his debut guest appearance on DJ Khaled’s We the Best with “Bitch I’m from Dade County”, alongside Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, Brisco, C-Ride and Dre. He also begins his career touring with 2 Live Crew.

Flo Rida’s debut album Mail on Sunday appears in 2008. Its lead single, “Low”, featuring T-Pain, spends 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and is also used on the soundtrack to Step Up 2 The Streets. Other singles from the album include “Elevator” featuring Timbaland, “In the Ayer” featuring will.i.am and “Roll” featuring Sean Kingston. After the album’s success, he appears on a number of singles by other artists, including DJ Laz’s “Move Shake Drop”, Michelle Williams’ “We Break the Dawn”, Madonna’s remix of “4 Minutes”, Jessica Mauboy’s “Running Back”, DJ Felli Fel’s “Feel It” and the remix of Rick Ross’s “Speedin’”. He also appears on albums including DJ Khaled’s We Global, Ace Hood’s Gutta and Lady Gaga’s The Fame.

His second album, R.O.O.T.S., is released in 2009. Its first single, “Right Round” featuring Ke$ha, reaches number one for six weeks and sets a U.S. digital sales record for one week with 636,000 downloads, exceeding the record previously set by “Low”. The album’s other singles include “Sugar” featuring Wynter Gordon, which reaches number five on the Billboard Hot 100, “Jump” featuring Nelly Furtado, and “Be On You” featuring Ne-Yo, which reaches number 19. “Jump” is also promoted for the animated film G-Force.

Later releases and collaborations

Flo Rida announces the album The Only One in 2010, with the buzz single “Zoosk Girl” featuring T-Pain and the official single “Club Can’t Handle Me”, which also appears on the soundtrack to Step Up 3-D. He later releases “Good Feeling” as the first single from Only One Rida (Part 2). The track is a reworking of Etta James’ 1961 song “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”. He also features on “iYiYi” by Australian pop and R&B artist Cody Simpson.

Labels and affiliations

He is signed to Poe Boy Entertainment and is associated with the Groundhoggz and Flo Fusion Band.