Khalil Amir Sharieff (born November 22, 1994)[1] is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and rapper from Sacramento, California. At the age of 15, he was discovered by record executive Kawan Prather and signed to Island Def Jam in 2010.[2] He released his debut single, "Girlfriend Ringtone", in May of that year and its follow up, "Hey Lil Mama" (featuring Lil Twist), the following year; the former lingered on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Due to their lack of commercial response, his album Hot Like Summer was shelved indefinitely. Khalil and Def Jam labelmate Justin Bieber were closely associated; Sharieff was an accomplice to Bieber's 2014 legal encounters and public mishaps.
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In 2008, He worked under the auspices of L.A. Reid to record some material in Florida after being discovered on YouTube.[3] He was signed the same year to Def Jam Recordings,[1] on the Teen Island label that was part of the music industry's response to "seize on the opportunities created by a phenomenon" of Justin Bieber; rather than focus on making a hit single, his manager was working to "developing him into a long-term artist."[4] While signed with Def Jam, he recorded a few singles, but did not release an album.[5]
The 2010 track "Girlfriend Ringtone" spent 13 weeks on Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart but did not break onto the main Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[6]
Khalil is featured on all of his songs on Lil Twist's mixtape The Golden Child hosted by DJ Ill Will.[7] These are "Wait On Me", "If You Only Knew" and "#1812" the latter a co-featured artist with Lil Za.
On February 15, 2012, he released a collaborative mixtape with Lil Twist called 3 Weeks in Miami. On June 20, 2013, Khalil premiered his video for "Stars" on his VEVO account. The video "Hey Lil Mama" was released in early 2011.
On January 18, 2016, he released a single called 'Simple' off his upcoming EP 'A Long Way From 916' later renamed as 'Misunderstood'.
