Flo Rida

He was born Tramar Lacel Dillard on September 16, 1979, in Carol City, Florida, US, as the only son of his parents among eight children.

A music enthusiast since childhood, he got a feel of real music through his brother-in-law who was associated with the local rap group ‘2 Live Crew’ as hype man.

While in his ninth grade he became a member of the amateur rap group ‘GroundHoggz’. Other three members of the group were his friends from the apartment complex he lived. The four members of the group worked together for eight years.

He completed his high school studies in 1998 and enrolled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ to study international business management, only to drop out after two months.

He also had a stint at the ‘Barry University’, however as his heart yearned for music, he left it after a couple of months to take forward his passion for music.

His association with his brother-in-law led him to work as hype man and back-up rapper of Fresh Kid Ice, a member of ‘2 Live Crew’. He toured along with Ice in such capacity and went on to feature in many tracks of the latter’s album ‘Freaky Chinese’ (2004).

His work with Ice drew attention of Jodeci member DeVante Swing and even though he came under guidance of A&R, he strived to associate with a good label and faced rejections from major record labels.

In 2000 he signed with the American hip hop group ‘Hot Boyz’

In his struggling days he did several odd jobs to take his musical passion forward, strayed in motels and even on streets sometimes. After getting a call from a representative of American record label ‘Poe Boy Entertainment’ (presently ‘Poe Boy Music Group’), he went back to Florida. He signed with the label in 2004.

The track ‘Birthday’ featuring Rick Ross that later found place in his debut album ‘Mail on Sunday’ marked his first major release.

‘Low’ became 2008’s longest running chart topping single in the US and held the spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks in a row. It ranked #3 on the list of US Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade.

Popped up as the decade’s most downloaded single with a record breaking digital download sell of more than six million, ‘Low’ received 8× Platinum certification from RIAA apart from Platinum and Gold certifications from many others.

‘Right Round’ made a first-week sells of 636,000 digital copies thus breaking Flo Rida’s own record set with ‘Low’. It emerged as his best-selling single with more than twelve million certified downloads and also the fastest million-selling download in the history of digital era in the US.