Flo Rida

Poised at the confluence of feel-good rap, pop, and electronic, Flo Rida established himself as the party king of the late 2000s with global smash hits like the T-Pain-assisted “Low” and the massive club banger “Right Round” featuring Kesha. The Florida-born MC and singer carried his international success into the next decade, further cementing his reputation with 2011′s The Wild Ones, an album that yielded four multi-platinum singles including “Good Feeling,” “Whistle,” and the Sia-assisted title cut. Known for his dynamic rapped/sung attack and larger-than-life personality, Flo Rida has been able to move freely between the rap and pop worlds while also enlisting prominent dance producers like Axwell and Avicii to supercharge his sound. His later output trended exclusively toward singles like the 2016 Jason Derulo collaboration “Hello Friday” and 2017′s “Cake” with 99 Percent. In 2021, he featured on the Eurovision Song Contest entry “Adrenalina” by Italian singer Senhit.
Born and raised in Carol City, Florida Flo Rida (real name Tramar Lacel Dillard), Flo Rida, then a teenager, toured as a hype man for 2 Live Crew’s Fresh Kid Ice and began popping up on high-profile mixtapes by 2006 (most notably on DJ Khaled’s “Bitch I’m from Dade County,” where he joined Rick Ross, Trick Daddy, Trina, and Dre of Cool & Dre). Signed to the Atlantic-distributed Poe Boy that year, he recorded his debut album, Mail on Sunday, which was released in March of 2008. The album’s lead single, “Low” featuring T-Pain, proved to be the MC’s breakout and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks. A year later he followed up with the album R.O.O.T.S. (Route of Overcoming the Struggle), which yielded the massive club hit “Round,” and introduced the world to Kesha. Only 1 Flo, Pt. 1 appeared in 2010, with some tracks produced by dance music stars like Axwell, Benny Blanco, and David Guetta. On his 2012 release, Wild Ones, productions from Dr. Luke, Avicii, and Axwell continued in this dance direction. The album offered up three big hits: “Whistle,” “Good Feeling,” and “Wild Ones,” featuring Sia. Three years later, Flo Rida reappeared with his fourth EP, 2015′s My House, which included the eponymous hit single.
During the latter half of the decade, his output consisted largely of singles and collaborations including 2016′s “Hello Friday” with Jason Derulo, 2017′s “Cake” featuring 99 Percent, 2018′s solo “Dancer,” and the 2019 E-40 and Sage the Gemini meetup “Snack.” In a somewhat unexpected pairing, Flo Rida joined Italian singer Senhit on “Adrenalina,” which served as her entry for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest representing San Marino. He quickly followed up with his own single, “Summer’s Not Ready,” featuring Inna and Timmy Trumpet. A pair of singles, “Low” and “What a Night,” appeared the following year. ~ Andy Kellman