Travis Mills | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Travis Tatum Mills |
Also known as |
|
Born | April 12, 1989 |
Origin | Riverside, California, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Years active | 2009–present |
Labels | |
Website | iamtravismills |
Travis Tatum Mills (born April 12, 1989), previously known by his stage name T. Mills, is an American rapper, singer, and actor from Riverside, California. Following his name change from T. Mills to Travis Mills, he began hosting an eponymous show on Apple Music 1. [1]
Travis Tatum Mills was born on April 12, 1989, in Riverside, California. [2] At the age of 5, Mills' uncle gave him his first guitar and at the age of 15 Mills stopped playing sports to start a punk rock band. [3] After graduating high school, Mills began writing his own songs and produced them on a computer software. He started uploading his music on MySpace and intentionally posted "provocative" photos on the platform to stir interest. [4] [5]
At the age of 17, Mills began writing songs in his bedroom, using music software such as Apple's Garage Band. At the age of 18, Mills began posting some of his music on his Myspace page. [6] In 2008, Mills signed a deal to the indie record label Uprising Records.
In 2011, Mills signed a deal to Columbia Records, following him signing a deal, he began recording his second and first major-label album. [7] On July 22, 2011, Mills released a mixtape, titled Leaving Home . Leaving Home is a 10-track project, with no guest appearances, while the production was provided from Noel Zancalla, Omen, AudioBlack, The Futuristics, Colin Munroe and Phonix, among others. [8] [9] On December 6, 2011, Mills announced that he would be repackaged as a 5-track EP, under its same name as his mixtape through Columbia Records. The EP's lead single, called "Vans On" was released on December 12, 2011, along with the promotional single, called "The Boom". [10] The EP was made available for retail stores on December 13, 2011. [11] [12] On December 15, 2011, to promote the release of the EP, he performed at The Roxy Show in Los Angeles, California. [13] The EP was released for free on December 19, 2011, [14] The EP was officially released on January 13, 2012, [15] [16] featuring some added new tracks, while the additional production was provided from Sir Nolan and The Stereotypes, among others. [10] [13]
In March 2012, Mills was nominated for the Best New Artist at the MtvU's Woodie Awards. [17] On July 23, 2012, Mills released his second mixtape, called Thrillionaire. It contains 10 tracks, featuring three guest appearances from American rapper Smoke DZA, the hip hop duo Audio Push, and an American musician James Fauntleroy II; [18] as well as the production from Sledgren, The Monsters & Strangerz and Kane Beatz, among others. [19] To promote the mixtape release, Mills filmed some music videos for songs such as "Lightweight", "Diemonds" [3] [20] and "Other Bitch Callin'" featuring James Fauntleroy II. [21] Mills later announced that he is planning on releasing the sequel for his second mixtape, called Thrillionaire 2. [22]
In 2013, Mills announced that the release date for his second major-label album has been slated for the second quarter of 2013. [22] It was reported that Mills was working on his second major-label album with artists such as Juicy J, Mike Posner, James Fauntleroy, Travis Barker, Layzie Bone and Skeme, with the production by Mills himself, alongside several other record producers such as Kane Beatz, 1500 or Nothin', Malay and Boi-1da, among others. [3] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] On February 15, 2013, Mills announced that his first single for his second major-label album will be coming soon. [28] [ non-primary source needed ] On March 5, 2013, the audio for his song, called "Loud" was released for digital download. The following day, Mills released the music video for "Loud". [29] [30] The song was produced by Pop Wansel, and the song contains a sample of "I Know You Got Soul" performed by Eric B. and Rakim. [31] He later said that "the hook for the song was one of his favorites out of all the hooks, he has ever written". [26]
In April 2013, Mills was touring with a fellow American rapper Sammy Adams. [32] On June 27, 2013, Mills was featured on Mike Posner's remix to "We Own It (Fast & Furious)", along with Sammy Adams and Niykee Heaton. [33] In June 2013, Mills was on tour with We the Kings, and the fellow supporting acts The Ready Set and Breathe Carolina on the 2013's SummerFest. [34] The music video for the single, called "All I Wanna Do", was shot and filmed in July 2013. [35]
On February 18, 2014, Mills announced the release to his third EP, titled All I Wanna Do . [36] [ non-primary source needed ] Starting from February 24 to April 24, 2014, Mills will be headlining on his All I Wanna Do Tour. [17] On February 24, 2014, while starting his promotional tour for his third EP, Mills released the audio to its title track "All I Wanna Do". The following day, Mills officially released the All I Wanna Do EP, via iTunes. The EP features production from Boi-1da and Malay, among others. [17] In July 2015, Mills would change his stage name to his artistic name Travis Mills. On July 24, 2015, Travis released his new single, titled "Young & Stupid". The song features guest verse a fellow American rapper T.I. [1] [37]
On January 22, 2016, Travis announced the release of his new single, called "Don't Need Much". [38] [39] The song was released through Republic Records, which was made available for streaming on SoundCloud on the same day of release. [40] The beat from "Don't Need Much" was sampled from a single named "Drank & Drugs", performed by Dutch rappers Lil' Kleine and Ronnie Flex. Travis signed a new label deal with First Access Entertainment and released his fourth EP under the label, titled While You Wait on April 8, 2016. The EP contains six tracks. [41] [42] Travis walked in the New York and Paris fashion shows in July 2016, and was named one of the best dressed by GQ Magazine . [43]
In 2020, Mills formed the band Girlfriends with Nick Gross, with the duo citing Blink-182, 5 Seconds of Summer and All Time Low as the band's musical influences. [44] The band released their first self-titled album on October 23, 2020 [45] featuring 14 tracks. The band's second album, (E)motion Sickness, was released on June 17, 2022. [46]
In March 2023, girlfriends released the single "Over My Dead Body" via Big Noise. [47] [48]
Mills' music has been described as genre-blending due to his mix of singing and rapping, being mostly labeled as a hip hop and synthpop artist. [49] [50] [51] He is known for mixing pop and electronic songs with hip hop and R&B. [52] Mills says that his genre-blending music is a result of his exposure to many different genres during childhood. [53] He has said that "[my] mom was a huge Queen fan, my dad's a diehard Elvis fan, my uncle is a hip-hop and R&B head, my sister listened to Britney Spears, country and boy bands and I was into pop punk, punk rock, metal and just into everything." [26] He indicated that his rapping style was influenced by Kanye West and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, among others. [31]
In March 2016, Mills made his acting debut in the Netflix original comedy series Flaked . [54]
In 2019, he co-starred in a spinoff of Catfish: The TV Show called Ghosted: Love Gone Missing , where he teamed up with Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay to help people find those who have ghosted them and find the real reasons for the sudden disappearance in the ghosted persons life. [55] On April 26, 2022, he joined actress Rahne Jones to host MTV's brand-new docuseries, Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship! Mills and Jones help individuals in long-term romances find out why they are being hidden from their partner's family and friends. [56]
Mills is heavily tattooed, which includes a full sleeve on one arm and a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony tattoo on his chest, in addition to many others. He also designated the letters "FTH" ("Fuck The Haters", "Forever The Highest") on his forehead, the "O" with a heart behind his left ear representing his sisters name and the word "Patience" tatted on his knuckles. [24] [57] [58] Mills also had the word "Gnarly" tattooed across his stomach at age 18. A couple months later he got a tattoo of the Apple logo drawn on the palm of his hand. [59] [60]
Early in his career Mills sported large stretched earlobes, but proceeded with lobe reconstruction surgery in 2013.
Mills was in a relationship with actress Madelaine Petsch from 2017 to February 2020. [61] [62]
Title | Details |
---|---|
Ready, Fire, Aim! |
|
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Rap | |||||||||||||
Finders Keepers EP |
| — | |||||||||||
Leaving Home EP |
| — | |||||||||||
All I Wanna Do |
| 16 | |||||||||||
While You Wait |
| — | |||||||||||
"—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Title | Album |
---|---|---|
2010 | "Stupid Boy" | Ready, Fire, Aim! |
"She Got A..." | ||
2011 | "Vans On" | Leaving Home EP |
2012 | "Lightweight" | Thrillionaire |
"Diemonds" | ||
2013 | "Loud" | Non-album single |
2014 | "All I Wanna Do" | All I Wanna Do |
2015 | "Young & Stupid" (featuring T.I.) | Non-album singles |
2016 | "Don't Need Much" | |
"One4Me" | ||
2017 | "Off U" | |
"Bands Now" (featuring 24hrs) | ||
"Just Like Us, This Song Doesn't Have a Title" |
Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
---|---|---|---|
"Size of Your Boat" (Remix) | 2010 | Jeffree Star | — |
"Another One" | 2012 | Ty$, Dom Kennedy | Beach House |
"Sally Walker" | Audio Push | Inland Empire | |
"Started from the Bottom" (Remix) | 2013 | Mike Posner, Asher Roth, King Chip | — |
"We Own It" (Remix) | Mike Posner, Sammy Adams, Niykee Heaton | ||
"Lowlife" (Remix) | 2016 | That Poppy | |
"Question" | Lauv | I Met You When I Was 18 (The Playlist) |
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015, 2021 | Ridiculousness | Himself | Guest |
2016 | Flaked | Stefan | Recurring role |
2018 | Alone Together | Stainz | Episode: "Pootie" |
2019 | Good Girls | Tobin | Episode: "Thelma and Louise" |
2019–2021 | Ghosted: Love Gone Missing | Himself | Co-host |
2020 | Wild 'n Out | Himself | Guest |
2020 | 2020 MTV Video Music Awards | Himself | Commentator at the Pre-Show |
Paul Michael Slayton, better known by his stage name Paul Wall, is an American rapper and DJ. He has spent much of his career affiliated with Swishahouse, and has released several albums under the label and collaborated with numerous other rappers signed to the label. He began his career performing alongside fellow Houstonian Chamillionaire, with whom he released several albums, including 2002's independently released Get Ya Mind Correct. By 2005, he was signed to Atlantic Records and became successful with his major label debut The Peoples Champ, which was followed up by Get Money, Stay True released in 2007. He has been nominated for one Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance as a Duo or Group for the song "Grillz", his collaboration with rapper Nelly.
Grand Hustle Records, also known as Hustle Gang Music, is an American hip hop record label, founded in 2003, by American rapper T.I. and his manager Jason Geter. The label was distributed by Atlantic Records until December 2012, and has since operated as an independent record label. Its roster has included acts such as 8Ball & MJG, B.o.B, Killer Mike, Young Dro, DJ Drama, Meek Mill, Chip, Travis Scott, and Trae tha Truth, the latter of whom also served as the label's vice president. The label also houses a roster of record producers, which has included Lil' C, Mars and Nard & B.
The discography of American rapper T.I. consists of eleven studio albums, one compilation album, one remix album, four extended plays (EPs), 13 mixtapes, 110 singles and 11 promotional singles. He has also released one music video album and over 60 music videos, the details of which are included in his videography.
Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, better known by his stage name Wale, is an American rapper. He first became known for his 2006 song "Dig Dug ", which became popular in his hometown of Washington D.C. and led Wale to gain further local recognition as he amassed a number of follow-up releases. Wale signed with English DJ-producer Mark Ronson's Allido Records in 2007, and after a three-label bidding war, he entered a joint venture with Interscope Records for US$1.3 million the following year. During this time, Wale's mixtapes and singles saw national attention as he appeared on MTV and various Black America-focused magazines.
DeAndre Cortez Way, known professionally as Soulja Boy, is an American rapper and record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He rose to prominence after his self-released 2007 debut single, "Crank That " peaked the Billboard Hot 100 for seven non-consecutive weeks. After its commercial re-release by Collipark Music, an imprint of Interscope Records, the song and its follow-up, "Soulja Girl" led to the release of his debut studio album, Souljaboytellem.com (2007). Despite unfavorable critical reception, it peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single "Yahhh!."
Bobby Ray Simmons Jr., known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, Simmons signed with producer Jim Jonsin through his Rebel Rock Entertainment label in 2006. Two years later, he signed a joint venture recording contract with fellow Georgia rapper T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records, an imprint of Atlantic Records. Following his major-label deal, Simmons quickly achieved commercial success when his 2009 debut single, "Nothin' on You", peaked the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and received three nominations—Record of the Year, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration—at the 53rd Grammy Awards.
Travis Porter is an American hip hop trio from Atlanta, Georgia. The group consists of stepbrothers Ali and Quez, and their friend Strap, who they met in middle school. The group released the biographical film Proud to be a Problem in May 2010, and signed with Jive Records to release their club-oriented debut single, "Make It Rain" in December of that year. It entered the Billboard Hot 100, along with its follow ups "Bring It Back" and "Ayy Ladies" —the latter reached number 53 on the chart and received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). All three preceded the release of their debut studio album From Day 1 (2012), which peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200. It served as their only project on a major label.
The discography of American rapper Wale consists of seven studio albums, three compilation albums, ten mixtapes, one extended play, sixty-five singles, two promotional singles and forty-one music videos. In 2005, Wale started his music career by releasing mixtapes in the Washington, D.C. area. His debut mixtape was titled Paint a Picture. Following that, Wale released his second mixtape in 2006, Hate Is the New Love. In the same year, Wale signed with a local record label in Studio 43. In 2007 Wale was discovered by Mark Ronson, and was signed by Allido Records, which released his third mixtape, 100 Miles & Running, featuring artist Daniel Merriweather.
Colson Baker, known professionally as MGK, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is noted for his genre duality across alternative rock with hip hop.
Jeffery Lee Johnson Jr., better known by his stage name Roscoe Dash, is an American rapper. He is best known for his guest feature alongside Wale on Waka Flocka Flame's 2010 single "No Hands," which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That same year, Roscoe Dash's debut single, "All the Way Turnt Up" peaked within the top 50 on the chart and preceded his debut studio album, Ready Set Go! (2010). Due to erroneous circumstances regarding its release, it failed to chart and was admitted by Roscoe Dash himself to be unfinished. The following year, he guest featured alongside Kanye West on Big Sean's 2011 single "Marvin & Chardonnay," which peaked at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, while his debut extended play, J.U.I.C.E. (2011) entered the Billboard 200.
Nayvadius DeMun Cash, known professionally as Future, is an American rapper and singer. Known for his mumble-styled vocals and prolific output, Future is considered a pioneer of the use of Auto-Tuned melodies in trap music. Due to the sustained popularity of this musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.
Brian Todd Collins, known professionally as Kid Ink, is an American rapper and singer from Los Angeles, California. His debut studio album, Up & Away (2012) was released independently and peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200. He then signed with RCA Records to release his debut extended play Almost Home (2013), followed by his second album and major label debut, My Own Lane the following year. The latter peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and was led by the single "Show Me", which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album also spawned the follow-up singles "Iz U Down" and "Main Chick". His third album, Full Speed (2015) spawned the singles "Body Language" and "Be Real", both of which received platinum certifications by the RIAA.
Carlo Waibel, better known by his stage name Cro, is a German rapper and singer. He describes his music as a mixture between rap and pop, which he calls "raop". He is known for wearing a panda mask on stage.
The discography of American rapper Meek Mill consists of five studio albums, seven extended plays, one compilation album, three collaborative albums, eleven mixtapes, fifty-four singles, ten promotional singles and thirty music videos.
Nicholaus Joseph Williams, better known by his stage name Trinidad James, is a Trinidadian-American rapper and songwriter. In December 2012, he signed with Def Jam Recordings to release his debut single, "All Gold Everything". The song peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and spawned a remix featuring fellow Georgia-based rappers T.I., Jeezy and 2 Chainz. He was dropped from the label in 2014 after failing to promptly record a debut album.
Katriana Sandra Huguet, better known by her stage name Kat Dahlia, is an American recording artist. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Dahlia is a singer, songwriter and rapper, known for her "razor sharp" lyrics and her "unique, aggressive flow". She released her debut single "Gangsta", in March 2013, to rave reviews. Dahlia released her debut studio album "My Garden", in January 2015, with Vested in Culture and Epic Records, the latter of which she secured a recording contract with in 2012. In 2013, Dahlia ranked number eight on Billboard's "Next Big Sound".
Owl Pharaoh is the debut solo mixtape by American rapper and record producer Travis Scott. It was released on May 21, 2013, on the iTunes Store and available for free download by Grand Hustle Records and Epic Records. The mixtape features guest appearances from 2 Chainz, T.I., Wale, Toro y Moi, A$AP Ferg, Theophilus London, Paul Wall, James Fauntleroy, Meek Mill and Kanye West
G.D.O.D. is a series of compilation mixtapes released by American hip hop and R&B record label Grand Hustle Records, under the namesake Hustle Gang. The first installment in the series was released on May 7, 2013.
Leaving Home EP is the major label debut extended play (EP) by American recording artist T. Mills. It was released for the retail sales on January 13, 2012, by Columbia Records. The production on this project was handled by Omen, Colin Munroe and The Stereotypes, among others. Leaving Home EP was supported by the lead single "Vans On", and a promotional single "The Boom".