Flo Rida is the stage name of Tramar Dillard born on December 16, 1979 in Miami Gardens, Florida. 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 1998, he studied international business management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for two years and attended Barry University for two months. Flo Rida justified dropping out of college by pursuing a music career. 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. Dillard signed with Poe Boy in 2007 and released his debut album, Mail on Sunday, in March 2008. It spawned 3 singles, "Elevator", "In the Ayer" and "Roll". Flo Rida followed it up with the release of his sophomore album, R.O.O.T.S. in 2009. The album’s lead single, "Right Round", sold 636,000 digital copies in a single week, the biggest first-week sales in digital history, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks.
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