Unsurprisingly a native Floridian, the MC toured as a teenager with 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 Mail on Sunday, which was released in March of 2008. “Low,” featuring T-Pain, was the album’s lead single; it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
A year later he returned with the album R.O.O.T.S. (Route of Overcoming the Struggle), featuring the massive club hit “Round,” which 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 along 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, My House, which included the eponymous hit single. A series of singles followed, including “Hello Friday” with Jason Derulo, “At Night” with Liz Elias and Akon, “Zillionaire,” “Cake” featuring 99 Percent, and “Dancer.”