Back in 2007, everyone was bumping Flo Rida's breakout hit, and life was good. But fast forward a few years, and fans were wondering what happened to the rapper, and why he's not really making headlines anymore.
Sure, he still collaborates (and rubs elbows) with lots of famous faces, but the rapper himself isn't crazy famous himself anymore. But it seems like he may have found one way to stay relevant: fame adjacency.
Flo seems to be helping some up-and-coming artists earn their spotlight, of course. But he also shouts out to celeb BFFs like Rick Ross, the late Larry King, DJ Khaled, Jimmy Kimmel, Akon, and Fat Joe. Many celebrities do the same, sure. But it seems a bit strange for Flo to randomly drop a collection of pics with other famous folks, then tag them all in one post, and log off.
In short, by surrounding himself with others in the industry who are possibly more famous than he is, maybe Flo is thinking he'll earn a bit more attention. While he may not be doing it consciously, most celebrities don't claim to look like other celebrities or say that they have fans chasing them for such a reason.
But Flo Rida did. Okay, so it might have been a joke, but it didn't seem that way when Flo Rida said that fans often mistake him for Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
Sure, he accompanied the Instagram announcement with a sweat-smile emoji and a crying-laughing one, but does that mean the caption was a joke? He also followed up with "if you ever need a stunt double."
Okay, so maybe from a distance that seems plausible. But for any fan of The Rock who gets close up -- or really, who notices the overall size of the celeb they're approaching -- the differences are clear.
Besides, while Flo Rida is clearly a pretty fit dude, he's not a legitimate former wrestler or pro bodybuilder like The Rock. In fact, it's a little bit awkward for Flo Rida to make that announcement, especially as the pic was accompanied by a video of him greeting and hugging The Rock on set somewhere.
Are the two really pals, or does The Rock feel just as uncomfortable as some fans felt while watching the interaction?
To be honest, it's almost like that time Dr. Dre sued a gynecologist with a similar name because he thought fans would be confused. Fans probably wouldn't have been confused in that scenario, and they're unlikely to be in this one, either.
That's not to say true celebrity doppelgängers don't exist, though. Plenty of A-list celebrities look like one another. Maybe Flo Rida just needs to look around for someone who shares more of his traits, rather than a guy who's got 50 pounds of muscle (and a couple of inches) on him.