Be it the man or the phenomenon, Flo Rida poses many questions – but few answers.

How does someone who recycles one, single joyless backing-track measure his YouTube hits in the hundreds of millions and become “the biggest selling digital hip hop artist in the world”?

Who are these hundreds of millions watching videos for ‘Sweet Spot‘ (a cleavage cam attached to a woman’s chin rolling for 4 minutes) and ‘Club Can’t Handle Me‘ (Flo enters said club from Lamborghini butterfly-doors and throws cash into the air)?

But the biggest question – and the question we can help answer today – is just where is it from that Mr Rida get lyrics like “Whistle baby / Whistle baby / Let me know” or “You and me / Just me and you / Emotions I feel /Emotions are real”?

We’ve come into possession of a genuine email from Flo Rida’s “team” at Atlantic Records to prospective songwriters which sheds some light on just how the magic works.

Here it is in full:

Hey everyone!

I’ve attached a Zip file (Idea & Instrumental) for a Flo Rida idea that the whole team love the melody.. Just needs new lyrics.. Lyric brief is below..Would be great if you had any songwriters who could nail it!

Overall key with Flo Rida is to be masculine, macho, and iconic. Meaning we stay away from soft topics (like “your beautiful” or anything with love in it, unless something nonromantic like “I Love This Shit”).

We try to use concepts that have been #1s before but not interpolate (example “Jump” has been a #1 for Van Halen, Pointer Sisters, Kriss Kross, House Of Pain, and others). We love catch phrases, edgy/sexual double entendres, commands, and HUGGGEEEE melodies + lots of energy.

Please feel free to offer your own masculine, macho, and iconic lyrics for Flo’s consideration by posting in the comments below.