Chamillionaire

He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishahouse until forming the hip hop duo Color Changin' Click with labelmate Paul Wall in 2002.

[1] 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.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

[8] 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.

[10] 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.

[12] Comedic performer "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of the song entitled "White & Nerdy", for his own album Straight Outta Lynwood.

[22] 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.

[32][33] Chamillionaire appeared on the remix for Weezer's song "Can't Stop Partying", from their album Raditude.

[35] 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.

[36][37] 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.

[49] Chamillionaire announced that despite leaving Universal, Poison was likely to be released through a major label, unlike the various promotional EPs.

Chamillionaire released volume 3 of his Greatest Verses on April 3, 2018, which contained a collection of non-album songs recorded from 2007 to 2014.

In addition to being a musician, Hakeem 'Chamillionaire' Seriki has embarked a business career and established himself as an entrepreneur in a number of industries.

In 2003, he ventured into one of his earliest investments in a Houston-based auto dealer and car customization shop, Fly Rydes Kustom Toy'z.

This investment forged a partnership between Chamillionaire and Mark in which Suster realised Seriki wanted to establish himself the tech industry.

He states that "Me and a few others like Big Boi from Outkast and Trey Songz were excited about the ride-sharing space," and that "This was around 2014, we started making the steps to get in touch with Lyft and did our investment in 2015.

[75] On February 23, 2015, Upfront Ventures, the largest early-stage fund raised in L.A since 2000, confirmed that Chamillionaire was appointed as an entrepreneur in residence.

A spokesperson for Upfront Ventures has stated that; "Chamillionaire brings a wealth of expertise in this area to the table based on his own years of employing successful tech and marketing strategies as both an independent music artist and later a label partner with Universal Records.

Add to that he has quietly been a fixture in the tech world for many years: attending major conferences both as a keynote and audience member, making him a sought-after promotional partner, advisor and potential investor.

It was in this capacity that he met Upfront partner, Mark Suster, in 2009, becoming one of the earliest co-investors in Maker Studios, now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

In the past five years or so, Cham has been quietly but actively involved in the tech startup scene, from speaking on social media engagement in the music industry to hanging out with Y Combinator associates.

"[77] Seriki teased that he was working on something bigger than music in summer 2017 as part of being an EIR at Upfront Ventures with a soft launch of the social media app.

In February 2018, at the Upfront Summit, Seriki announced Convoz, a social media app which allows an influencer to connect directly with his fans.

Finance, announced that they are going to invest $25,000 into a startup founded and managed by a woman or person of color alongside rapper E-40.

After seeing the success of his initial $25,000 investment pledge, Seriki and E-40 launched another, much larger, $100,000 competition for minority or woman start-ups.

[83] In May 2022, Seriki's tech company X Empire Inc. released the beta for the Access Club app, the private members-only social club was made for private investing and deals and gives members exclusive access to startups and companies looking to connect with people of influence.

[88] On November 19, 2004, Chamillionaire's younger brother, Rasaq Seriki, was allegedly attacked by Paul Wall and his entourage at a nightclub.

Before the entire incident between Paul Wall and Rasaq they were all part of the group called "The Color Changin' Click" which now has become fragmented.

Left to right: Chamillionaire, MC Hammer and Mistah F.A.B. at TechCrunch in 2008
Chamillionaire performing in Dubai, 2010