Hakeem Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage
name Chamillionaire, is an American rapper, singer, philanthropist,
and CEO of Chamillitary Entertainment. Chamillionaire is also the
founder and an original member of The Color Changin' Click. He began
his career independently with local releases in 2002, including collaboration
album Get Ya Mind Correct with fellow Houston rapper and childhood
friend Paul Wall. He signed to Universal Records in 2005 and released
The Sound of Revenge under Universal. It included hit singles "Turn
It Up" with Lil' Flip and the number-one, Grammy-winning hit "Ridin'" featuring
Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Ultimate Victory followed in
2007.
Chamillionaire was born in Washington, DC to a Muslim father from
Oyo State, Nigeria and a Christian mother, and he was the oldest
of their four children. His family moved to Houston when Seriki
was 4, and his parents separated when Seriki was a teenager. Seriki
was not allowed to listen to any secular music but became interested
in rap. In order to support his family financially, Seriki worked
stocking trucks and transporting blood and urine for a medical lab.
Seriki attended Jersey Village High School and the University of
Houston for two years. Seriki played basketball while in high
school and thought he would play in the NBA.
Seriki's stage name Chamillionaire is a portmanteau of "chameleon" and "millionaire"[7][8]
He has been recording mixtapes since 1998.[8] 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, Seriki (performing as 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.[9]
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, which went on to sell over 150,000
copies.[1] The Source magazine nominated the album for independent
album of the year in 2002.[8] Chamillionaire and the Color Changin'
Click, dubbed "Houston's answer to 50 Cent and his G-Unit posse",
performed at the SXSW music festival in 2004.[10]
[edit] 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 2005. The album debuted and peaked at number 10 on the
Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.[11] 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.[12] Its video also was named "Best
Rap Video" in the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.[13] In 2007,
he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
for "Ridin'".[14] He was previously signed with Michael
5000 Watts' Swishahouse label.[1] Comedic performer "Weird Al" Yankovic
made a parody of the song, titled "White and Nerdy", for
his own album Straight Outta Lynwood.[15] The third single from the
album was "Grown and Sexy".[12]
Additionally, the bonus track "Grind Time" was featured
in the video game NBA Live '06.[16] The album was certified platinum
by the RIAA, and a chopped and screwed version, screwed by OG Ron
C, was released in February 2006.[17] Guest appearances for the album
included Lil' Flip, Natalie, Krayzie Bone, Bun B, Lil Wayne, Pastor
Troy, Killer Mike, Scarface, singer Billy Cook, 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.[18] 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.
[edit] 2007–2008: Ultimate Victory
Chamillionaire (left) with MC Hammer and Mistah F.A.B. on July 24,
2008.
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. On Ultimate
Victory Chamillionaire said: "On my new album I'll keep it clean,
and won't say the f word or the n word, and if I do, it will be replaced
by normal everyday expressions, so nobody will ever know. Also, all
the stuff I say on my records, I don't really mean it about sex,
money or drugs like most rappers do." Guest appearances included
UGK, Krayzie Bone, Lil Wayne, Famous, 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.[19] The following single is "The Evening
News."
Mixtape Messiah 4, the fourth title in Chamillionaire's Mixtape
Messiah series, was initially set for release on December 18, 2007,[20]
but was released on August 27, 2008.[21]
[edit] 2008–present: Final Mixtape Messiah, Venom, and Major
Pain
In November 2008, Chamillionaire announced his plans for his third
album, Venom, for release in early 2009.[22] His sixth installment
in the Mixtape Messiah series was to be a "prelude" to
Venom.[23] The first single off of Venom was initially planned to
be "Creepin' (Solo)", which featured Ludacris and ended
up reaching #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles
chart. However, it is unclear whether or not the song will be included
on Venom after Chamillionaire canceled and then reinstated the album.
He announced that Mixtape Messiah 7 would be the final installment
of the "Mixtape Messiah" series and that he cancelled Venom
to create different material for his third album. Chamillionaire
awarded his final Mixtape Messiah 7 to 100 winners of a contest which
he ran on his website. One of those winners was fellow rapper and
Chamillionaire protege, E-Dawg (NJ), along with "Larry Hustle",
aka Anonymayne.[24][25] The first disc from Mixtape Messiah 7 was
launched for free download on Aug 4, 2009 just after 11:30 pm EST,
while Disc 2 was released on August 6, 2009 just after 2:00 am EST.
The next day the next Disc 3 & 4 dropped making it a 66 track
compilation.[26]
On September 29, it was officially announced that Chamillionaire's
third album would indeed be entitled "Venom" after a fan
vote on his Web site. The first single from this upcoming album is
titled "Good Morning". The album is scheduled to be released
on June 22, 2010.[27][28]
Chamillionaire appeared on the remix for Weezer's song "Can't
Stop Partying", off of their album Raditude. He also joined
Weezer for live performances as Lil Wayne, who is featured on the
original version of the track, was convicted on gun possession charges
and was unable to perform.[29]
On December 11, 2009, Chamillionaire performed a set for "Fort
Hood Community Strong", an event described as a day of "healing,
fun and entertainment" for those placed at the Fort Hood military
base who were affected by the shooting that took place on November
5, 2009, killing 13 people. Other performers at the event included
Nick Jonas, Dana Carvey and Zac Brown Band.[30]
On December 23, 2009, Chamillionaire announced via his YouTube page
that he would be initiating a new mixtape series entitled "Major
Pain" through his website by dropping a disc entitled Major
Pain on February 2, 2010.[31][32]
Due to the 2010 NBA All-Star Game taking place in Dallas, Texas,
Chamillionaire released a new song, "Main Event", on February
11, 2010 via free download. It features fellow Texas rappers Paul
Wall, Slim Thug & Dorrough. "Every artist on the song with
me has independent hustle and strength in the streets," he said. "It's
an All-Star song, so what better place to shoot the video than All-Star
Weekend, right here in our own backyard."[33] It was later released
to iTunes on June 8, 2010.
In June 2010, AOL News reported that Chamillionaire lost his home
to foreclosure and owed the Internal Revenue Service $184,000 in
taxes from 2007.[34]
On Chamillionaire's official website, he states "Right now
the Venom album is set for March 16 and has been pushed back just
like Lil Wayne's Rebirth, Game's Red album, and countless other hip
hop albums that this happens to."[35] The date was later pushed
back to June 22, but was not released that day. There is currently
no date set for the release of Venom.
According to Kanye West's engineer and producer Andre Dawson, Chamillionaire
and Universal Records have parted ways. “I’ve been working
a lot with Chamillionaire, because I produced some tracks for him.
He got out of his deal with Universal [Records], which wasn’t
a good situation for either of them,” revealed Dawson. “Him
and I have an active producer agreement that is now null and void
because they got caught in the legal shuffle, but I’m like, ‘I
just want the music to come out. Let’s find a way to make it
happen.’ I was emailing him stuff back and forth when I was
[with Kanye West] in Hawaii. Some big stuff will be coming out this
next year, so I’m stoked to see it going.” Cham also
tweeted that he’ll be doing a Ustream session on January 14
to discuss his future plans.[36]
During his live UStream on January 14, 2011, Chamillionaire announced
he was officially off of Universal Records. As part of this deal
he is not allowed to release Venom or any material recorded during
that time. He is currently working on a new series called "Playlist
Poison" which was release new tracks on a random basis. These
can be found on his official website at www.chamillionaire.com which
is currently under construction.
[edit] Entrepreneurship
Chamillionaire co-owns Houston based auto dealer Fly Rydes with
a partner, Ernest. He personally owns a tour bus company and his
record label, Chamillitary Entertainment. Chamillionaire has since
let Ernest take over the whole company. Chamillionaire also has worked
with William Kemp, an entrepreneur from Houston, Texas on a project
still in the works involving the purchasing of stocks and other ventures.[3]
On November 4, 2009, Chamillionaire launched the Global Innovation
Tournament 2009 at the Stanford Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University
with Quincy Jones III as part of the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought
Leaders Seminar Series.[37]
[edit] Discography
Main article: Chamillionaire discography
Studio albums
* The Sound of Revenge (2005)
* Ultimate Victory (2007)
* TBA (TBA)
Collaboration albums
* Get Ya Mind Correct (2002) (with Paul Wall)
* Controversy Sells (2005) (with Paul Wall)
* Chamillitary (2005) (with The Color Changin' Click)
[edit] Filmography
* The Game (US TV series) (2007) 1 Episode (When the Chickens Come
Home to Roost Part 1) (Credited as himself)