Chamillionaire extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Chamillionaire
In Stanford, California in July 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Hakeem Seriki
Born	November 28, 1979 (1979-11-28) (age 29) Washington, D.C., United States
Origin	Houston, Texas, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, record executive, entrepreneur
Years active	1998–present
Label(s)	Chamillitary, Universal, Bibian Corp.
Associated acts	The Color Changin' Click
Website	www.chamillionaire.com

Hakeem Seriki (born November 28, 1979)¹, better known by his stage name Chamillionaire, is an American rapper and singer and CEO of Chamillitary Entertainment. He stated that his aim is to prove that the South can produce quality lyricists. He is also a hook writer and usually sings and harmonizes with himself (using multi-tracked vocals) on his own hooks. Chamillionaire is a founder and original member of The Color Changin' Click.¹ In 2007, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his number-one single "Ridin'", a number-one hit in the United States for two weeks in 2006.² He is a former artist on Michael 5000 Watts' Swishahouse label.¹

Contents 1 Early life 2 Music career 2.1 Beginnings 2.2 2005–2006: The Sound of Revenge 2.3 2007–2008: Ultimate Victory 2.4 2008–present: Final mixtape, third album 3 Other ventures 4 Discography 5 Awards 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Seriki was born in Washington and later moved to Houston, Texas.¹ when he was still a child. His father was a Muslim Nigerian immigrant and his mother was an African American Christian.³ He attended Eisenhower High School and transferred to Jersey Village High School to play in its basketball program, which he believed to be better than that of the former school.⁴ He appeared on Fox 26 morning news in 1994 before becoming a rapper and he held numerous jobs, including stocking trucks and transporting blood and urine for a medical lab.⁵

Music career

Beginnings

Chamillionaire stated that he has been recording mixtapes since January 2, 1998.⁶ Seriki's stage name Chamillionaire is a portmanteau of "chameleon" and "millionaire")⁷ While self-promoting at an event, Seriki and fellow rapper Paul Wall met Michael "5000" Watts, a popular mixtape DJ from northern Houston. After proposing to do promotions for Watts's company Swishahouse, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall came to Watts's studio and convinced Watts to allow them to freestyle on an intro to Watts's radio show on Houston hip-hop radio station KBXX-FM. Watts, who himself was convinced to rap on the record, enjoyed the freestyle so much that he put the verses on one of his mixtapes. Soon, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall became regular staples on Houston's mixtape circuit, appeared on several of Watts's mixtapes, and became permanent members of Swishahouse.⁸ Chamillionaire and Paul Wall soon started their own group, The Color Changin' Click. In 2002, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall collaborated for the album Get Ya Mind Correct, would go on to sell over 150,000 copies.¹ The Source magazine nominated the album for independent album of the year in 2002.⁶

2005–2006: The Sound of Revenge

Chamillionaire's first major solo release The Sound of Revenge was released through Chamillitary Entertainment and Universal Records in November 2006. The album debuted and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.⁹ The album's lead single was "Turn It Up", featuring Lil' Flip produced by Scott Storch, followed by "Ridin'", featuring Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony produced by Play-N-Skillz; "Ridin'" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.¹⁰ Its video also was named "Best Rap Video" in the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.¹¹ Comedic performer "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the song, titled "White and Nerdy", for his own album Straight Outta Lynwood.¹² The third single from the album was "Grown and Sexy".¹⁰

Additionally, the bonus track "Grind Time" was featured in the video game NBA Live '06.¹³ The album was certified platinum by the RIAA, and a chopped and screwed version, screwed by OG Ron C, was released in February 2006.¹⁴ Guest appearances for the album included Lil' Flip, Natalie, Krayzie Bone, Bun B, Lil Wayne, Pastor Troy, Killer Mike, Scarface, and his brother Rasaq.

In January 2006, Chamillionaire entered a feud with BCD Music Group, a company that used to distribute his music, as BCD claimed that Chamillionaire was making slanderous remarks about the company in his songs. Consequently, Shila Mitra, a partner of BCD, fueled the feud further with her own diss track.¹⁵ Later in 2006, Chamillionaire was featured in the singles "Get Up" by Ciara, "That Girl" by Frankie J, "Bet That" by Trick Daddy, "King Kong" by Jibbs, and "Doe Boy Fresh" by Three Six Mafia in 2007. Chamillitary Mane

2007–2008: Ultimate Victory

To promote his new album, Chamillionaire released Mixtape Messiah 3 as a prelude to his new album on July 18, 2007 at exactly 11pm Eastern Time on his website. Chamillionaire released his second mainstream album Ultimate Victory on September 18, 2007. Ultimate Victory was made without a single profanity said by Chamillionaire. Guest appearances included UGK, Krayzie Bone, Lil Wayne, Famous aka. Lil' Ken, Tony Henry, Devin the Dude and Lloyd. The first single was "Hip Hop Police", featuring Slick Rick, which both Chamillionaire and Slick Rick performed on the CBS television network program Late Show with David Letterman on September 14, 2007.¹⁶ The following single is "The Evening News."

Chamillionaire recently signed back to Chamillitary Entertainment the rapper Yung Ro, a former member The Color Changin' Click, but released him from Chamillitary Entertainment shortly after. His artist Famous released his debut on Chamillitary titled "Money, Power, and Fame". Chamillionaire will release the Tony Henry R&B project through the label Chamillitary Soul.¹⁷

Mixtape Messiah 4, the fourth title in Chamillionaire's Mixtape Messiah series, was initially set for release on December 18, 2007¹⁸, but was released on August 27, 2008.¹⁹

2008–present: Final mixtape, third album

In November 2008, Chamillionaire announced his plans for his third album, Venom, for release in early 2009.²⁰ His fifth installment in the Mixtape Messiah series was to be a "prelude" to Venom.²¹ The first single of "Venom" was "Creepin' (Solo)", which featured Ludacris and reached #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. He announced that Mixtape Messiah 7 would be his final mixtape and that he cancelled Venom to create different material for his third album.²²²³

Other ventures

Chamillionaire is also known for his business ventures outside of Rap. Chamillionaire owns Houston based auto dealer Fly Rydes which he co-owns with his business partner, Ernest. The car dealership designs, rents, and sells cars to corporations and individuals. Chamillionaire also owns a tour bus company; and owns his record label, Chamillitary Entertainment. He has also become interested in real estate marketing. ⁵

Discography

• The Sound of Revenge (2005)
• Ultimate Victory (2007)
• Chamillionaire's third studio album (TBA)

Awards

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chamillionaire

• Chamillionaire.com - Official blog
• Chamillionaire at MySpace
• Chamillionaire at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Chamillionaire Studio albums The Sound of Revenge · Ultimate Victory · Venom Collaborations Get Ya Mind Correct · Controversy Sells · Chamillitary · Big Business · Money, Power, and Fame Compilations Best of... Continued · Greatest Hits 2 · Best Of… Continued Part 2 Mixtapes Chamillitary · Mixtape Messiah · Houston We Have a Problem · The Truth · Tippin' Down 2005 · Late Summer 2k5 · Whut It Dew · Big Business · Man on Fire · Mixtape Messiah 2 · Da Bottom Vol. 2 · Mixtape Messiah 3 · Mixtape Messiah 4 · Mixtape Messiah 5 · Hangin' Wit Mr. Koopa · Mixtape Messiah 6 · King Koopa (Southern Royalty) · I Am Legend (Greatest Verses) · Mixtape Messiah 7 Singles "Turn It Up" · "Ridin'" · "Grown and Sexy" · "Hip Hop Police" · "Won't Let You Down" · "Creepin' (Solo)" Featured singles "Draped Up" · "Get Up" · "That Girl" · "Bet That" · "King Kong" · "Doe Boy Fresh" · "I Know U Want That" Related articles Discography · Awards and nominations · Chamillitary Entertainment · The Color Changin' Click · Rasaq · Paul Wall

Persondata
NAME	Chamillionaire
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Seriki, Hakeem
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Rapper, record executive, entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH	1979-11-28
PLACE OF BIRTH	Washington, D.C., United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH