Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire ( ), is an American rapper and businessman. He began his career in Houston's hip hop scene in the late 1990s. He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishahouse until forming the hip hop duo The Color Changin’ Click with labelmate Paul Wall in 2002. The two signed with Houston's Paid in Full Entertainment to release the collaborative album Get Ya Mind Correct (2002), which entered the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Seriki signed with Universal Records as a solo act in 2005. His debut studio album, The Sound of Revenge (2005), peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and received critical praise, along with his second album, Ultimate Victory (2007). The former was preceded by the singles "Ridin'" (featuring Krayzie Bone) — which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best Rap Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards — and "Turn It Up" (featuring Lil' Flip), while the latter was preceded by "Hip Hop Police" (featuring Slick Rick) and notable for its lack of profanity. His 2009 pop rap single, "Good Morning", peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 was intended to lead his third album, Venom, which was never released.
In 2011, Chamillionaire left Universal Records and released his first independent extended play (EP), Ammunition, in March 2012. His second EP, Elevate, was released in February 2013, followed by his third, Reignfall, in July of that year. Prior, he released the mixtape series Mixtape Messiah from 2004 to 2009.
He was the founder of the Color Changin' Click, which was formed in 2001 and disbanded in 2005. Chamillionaire founded Chamillitary Entertainment in 2004. He joined Los Angeles–based venture capital firm Upfront Ventures in 2015, and has since focused on numerous entrepreneurial and business endeavors. He co-created the now-defunct social media app Convoz in January 2018.
Early life Chamillionaire was born to a Muslim Yoruba father from Nigeria and an African-American Christian mother in Washington, D.C., and moved to Houston, Texas at the age of four. Chamillionaire's parents separated in his early teenage years. He settled into the Acres Homes neighborhood of northwest Houston. He attended Jersey Village High School alongside rap partner Paul Wall.
Rap and other forms of secular music, which his parents had highly opposed in their household, became very appealing to Chamillionaire, who was still in his teens at the time. Chamillionaire has stated that he was inspired by southern rap acts such as the Geto Boys, 8 Ball & MJG, and UGK, as well as other national acts such as N.W.A and Public Enemy. At a young age, Chamillionaire, along with fellow rap music artist and childhood friend Paul Wall, had decided to make music their careers. Chamillionaire has a brother, who is three years younger than him, Rasaq Seriki, who is also an occasional rapper and a past member of The Color Changin' Click.
Music career 1998–2004: Career beginnings Seriki's stage name Chamillionaire is a portmanteau of "chameleon" and "millionaire" While 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. 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. The Source magazine nominated the album for independent album of the year in 2002. 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.
2005–2006: The Sound of Revenge
Chamillionaire's first major solo release The Sound of Revenge was released through Chamillitary Entertainment and Universal Records on November 22, 2005. The album debuted and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States. 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. Its video also was named "Best Rap Video" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2007, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Ridin'". He was at that time signed with Michael 5000 Watts' Swishahouse label. Comedic performer "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the song entitled "White & Nerdy", for his own album Straight Outta Lynwood. The third single from the album was "Grown and Sexy".
Additionally, the bonus track "Grind Time" was featured in the video game NBA Live 06. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA, and a chopped and screwed version, screwed by OG Ron C, was released in February 2006. 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. Chamillionaire won the Best New Artist award for the 2006 BET Awards
The second installment to the Mixtape Messiah series, Mixtape Messiah 2, was released January 5, 2006. 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.
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 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 (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. The following single was "The Evening News."
Mixtape Messiah 4, the fourth title in Chamillionaire's Mixtape Messiah series, was initially set for release on December 18, 2007, but was released on August 27, 2008.
2008–2010: Final Mixtape Messiah, Venom, and Major Pain In November 2008, Chamillionaire announced his plans for his third album, Venom, for release in early 2009. His sixth installment in the Mixtape Messiah series was to be a "prelude" to Venom. The first single from Venom was initially planned to be "Creepin' (Solo)", which featured Ludacris and ended up reaching No.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. The first disc from Mixtape Messiah 7 was launched for free download on August 4, 2009, and Disc 2 was released on August 6, 2009. The next day, the Discs 3 and 4 were released for a total of 66 tracks.
On September 29, it was officially announced that Chamillionaire's third album would indeed be entitled Venom after a fan vote on his website. The first single from this upcoming album was titled "Good Morning". The album was scheduled to be released on June 22, 2010.
Chamillionaire appeared on the remix for Weezer's song "Can't Stop Partying", from 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. 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.
On December 23, 2009, Chamillionaire announced via his YouTube page that he would be initiating a new mixtape, Major Pain, through his website on February 2, 2010. Due to the 2010 NBA All-Star Game taking place in Dallas, Texas, Chamillionaire released a new song, "The Main Event", on February 11, 2010, via free download. It features fellow Texas rappers Paul Wall, Slim Thug and 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." It was later released to iTunes on June 8, 2010.
On Chamillionaire's official website, he stated: "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." The date was later pushed back to June 22, but was not released that day. Venom has been confirmed as canceled as Chamillionaire has parted ways with Universal.
Venom was later released on DatPiff in 2011 as a bootlegged mixtape made by the fans.
2011–2012: Departure from Universal Records and Playlist Poison According to Kanye West's engineer and producer Andrew 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." Chamillionaire also tweeted that he'll be doing a Ustream session on January 14 to discuss his future plans.
During his live UStream on January 14, 2011, Chamillionaire announced he was officially leaving Universal Records. As part of this deal he was not allowed to release Venom or any material recorded during that time. He was then working on a new series called Playlist Poison and released tracks on a random basis. The first Playlist Poison song released was "When Ya On" which featured Nipsey Hussle and was followed by "This My World" featuring Big K.R.I.T., "Charlie Sheen" featuring Rock D & Killer Mike, and "Passenger Seat" featuring Short Dawg. On April 18, he released the next installment in his Major Pain mixtape series, Major Pain 1.5 for free download from his website, and subsequently released three other mixtapes entitled Badazz Freemixes, Badazz Freemixes 2 and Badazz Slowmixes. Chamillionaire's eight song EP titled Ammunition was released for digital download on March 20, 2012, and all physical bundles were released on March 27, 2012. His third studio album, Poison, was initially announced for a 2013 release, but is still unreleased .