1979–2006: Early life and career beginnings Flo Rida was born as Tramar Lacel Dillard on September 16, 1979, 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 Flo Rida 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 made his debut guest appearance with the songs in legs up, liqueur talking and let me see it. 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. Between 2003 and 2007 he began releasing his mixtapes first flo, R.I.D.A, second flo, florida cash cartel and mr birthday man. 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
Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, as featuring artist in 2000. In year 2004, he began affiliating himself 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. He made his second
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.
2007–2008: Mail on Sunday in
Toronto 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. 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 and 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Canada. He appeared on the albums
We Global by
DJ Khaled,
Gutta by
Ace Hood, and
The Fame by
Lady Gaga.
2009–2010: R.O.O.T.S. " Flo Rida began recording his second album,
R.O.O.T.S., 9 months after
Mail On Sunday. The album was released on March 31, 2009. The first single, "
Right Round" featuring Kesha, 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 US, 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 British band
Dead or Alive. "Right Round" also became Flo Rida's first chart-topping song in the United Kingdom. The second official single was "
Sugar", which featured
R&B singer
Wynter Gordon. The song reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. "
Jump", featuring singer
Nelly Furtado, was the third official single and was released on July 27, 2009, in the United Kingdom, and July 28, 2009, worldwide. "
Be on You", featuring singer
Ne-Yo, was the album's fourth official single, released on October 6, 2009. Both songs charted in the top 100 in various countries. "
Available", featuring
Akon, was going to be released on
iTunes but was cancelled. A music video was, however, shot in mid-2009.
R.O.O.T.S. debuted at number 8 on the
Billboard 200 chart, selling 55,000 copies in its first week. As of August 2009, the album has sold 223,000 copies in the United States, and 536,000 worldwide. By the end of 2009, the album sold 247,000 copies in the US, becoming the eighth best-selling rap album of 2009. 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 second song by winner of
season 5 of the British TV singing competition
The X Factor Alexandra Burke that featured Flo Rida, debuted at the top of the
UK Singles Chart in October 2009, becoming both Burke's and Flo Rida's second chart-topping song in Britain.
2010–2011: Only One Flo (Part 1) 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. A
promo single, titled "Zoosk Girl", which features
T-Pain, was released on the internet; though the song is not featured on the album, the single does have its own music video. On June 28, 2010, Flo Rida released the song "
Club Can't Handle Me" featuring
David Guetta, which was stated to be the official first single for the album. The song was also featured in the
Step Up 3D soundtrack. On November 2, 2010, "Come with Me" was released as the first promo single for the album, along with "Puzzle", produced, and featuring by Electrixx, which is not featured on the album. On November 16, 2010, "
Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)" was released as the second official promo single for the album via the
iTunes Store. It debuted on the
Australian Singles Chart at number 34 on November 29, 2010. After the release of the album in the UK, "
Who Dat Girl" started to receive a strong number of downloads, thus causing it to debut at number 136 on the
UK Singles Chart and chart at a current peak of number 31 on the
UK R&B Chart. "Why You Up In Here" was released as the fourth single, and third
promo single, on May 11, 2011. The song features
Ludacris,
Gucci Mane, and
Git Fresh. 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 their single, "
Higher". In December 2010, Flo Rida 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.
2011–2013: Wild Ones Flo Rida's fourth album,
Wild Ones (originally titled
Only One Rida (Part 2)) was released in July 2012. Its debut single was "
Good Feeling", released on August 29, 2011. The song samples
Etta James' 1962 song, "
Something's Got a Hold on Me". Following the death of Etta James on January 20, 2012, Flo Rida dedicated the song in her memory. The song peaked at No. 3 in the United States, and topped the charts in Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, it became Flo Rida's fourth chart-topper on the
UK Singles Chart including collaborations with British artists and
David Guetta. It reached the top five in nine other countries. The next two singles from the album were the title track, "
Wild Ones", released in December 2011, and "
Whistle", released in April 2012. "Wild Ones" reached No. 1 in various countries, and hit No. 5 in the US, while "Whistle" reached No. 1 in 20 countries, including the United States. Flo Rida also collaborated with
Justice Crew on their song "
Dance with Me (Justice Crew song)" back in March 2011. It reached the top fifty in Australia. On April 1, 2012, Flo Rida appeared at
WWE's
WrestleMania XXVIII in a segment with
Heath Slater,
Curt Hawkins, and
Tyler Reks, in which Slater called Flo Rida "Florida" and the rapper shoved him into a wall. Later that night, he performed "Wild Ones" and "Good Feeling" before
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson came out for his match against
John Cena. An exclusive Australian EP entitled
Good Feeling was released in Australia on April 6, which contains six of his biggest hits and two remixes. It debuted at No. 21 on the
Australian ARIA Albums Chart On May 22, 2012, Flo Rida performed and closed the show at the first Q102 Springle Ball Concert, and the following day he performed "Goin' In" with
Jennifer Lopez on the
America Idol finale. On September 13, Flo Rida performed his new single "
I Cry" on ''
America's Got Talent''. On December 9, he performed "
Let It Roll" and "Wild Ones" at the 2012 edition of WWE's
Tribute to the Troops. In November 2012, he collaborated with
Olly Murs for his song "
Troublemaker". In June 2013, Flo Rida collaborated with
Marc Mysterio on the song "Booty on the Floor" to benefit the families and victims of the
Boston Marathon bombing via One Fund Boston.
2014–present: My House, status of fifth studio album, lawsuit against Celsius In January 2014, Flo Rida was featured in the song "One Night Stand" by Slovak duo
TWiiNS. In November, he appeared on
Nickelback's album
No Fixed Address in the track "Got Me Runnin' Round". Flo Rida was also featured in
Jeremih's track "
Tonight Belongs to U!". On September 29, 2014 (October 21 in the U.S), Flo Rida released the lead single from his EP
My House (2015) titled "
G.D.F.R." featuring
Sage the Gemini. The song became his tenth top 10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 8 in the
Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number 3 in the US Top 100 chart on iTunes. On June 19, 2015, Flo Rida released the second single called "
I Don't Like It, I Love It" featuring
Robin Thicke and
Verdine White. The single reached the No. 43 spot on the
Billboard Hot 100. On October 15, 2015, the title track "
My House" was released as a single and became an international success, peaking at number 4 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in early 2016. On February 20, 2016, Flo Rida released "Who Did You Love", a collaboration with
Arianna. On February 26, 2016, Flo Rida released a standalone single "
Hello Friday" featuring
Jason Derulo, that peaked at number 79 in the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Flo Rida was also featured on Liz Elias' single "At Night" as well as on
Pitbull's single "
Greenlight", included on Pitbull's tenth album
Climate Change. In early 2017, Flo Rida's track "
Cake" featuring Bay Area rap duo 99 Percent went viral with the trending #CakeChallenge dance, and the song reached No. 77 on the Hot 100. On November 17, 2017, Flo Rida released another single "Hola" featuring Colombian singer/songwriter
Maluma. On March 2, 2018, Flo Rida released a new single titled "Dancer" followed shortly afterwards by the
Just Dance 2019 track "Sweet Sensation". On multiple occasions, Flo Rida has addressed his progress on a fifth studio album. In 2017, he said it was 70 percent finished, while in 2020 he put it at 88% and alluded to a 2021 release date. Flo Rida was featured on the song "
Adrenalina" by Italian singer
Senhit who represented
San Marino in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Two days before the second semi-final of the contest, it was confirmed that Flo Rida would be joining Senhit on stage. San Marino, represented by Senhit, finished 22nd overall out of 26 countries in the final of the contest. In 2022, Flo Rida released
country rap singles "High Heels" featuring
Walker Hayes and "No Bad Days" featuring
Jimmie Allen. On January 18, 2023, Flo Rida was awarded $82.6 million by a Florida jury in his
lawsuit against Celsius, the maker of energy drinks with whom Flo Rida had an endorsement deal, serving as a brand ambassador from 2014 to 2018. He and his production company, Strong Arm Productions, claimed that Celsius breached their contract and attempted to hide money. ==Artistry==