Kodak Black

Kodak Black (2016)

Kodak Black (born Dieuson Octave on June 11, 1997 , real name changed to Bill K. Kapri in 2018 ) is an American-Haitian rapper .

life and career

Kapri grew up without a father in the underdeveloped Golden Acres housing development in Pompano Beach , Florida . His single mother is Haitian . Kapri wrote his first rap text at elementary school age. He started rapping when he was in fifth grade. At the age of eleven or twelve, Kapri became a member of the rap group Brutal Yungenz from Pompano Beach. From then on he took rapping more seriously and appeared from 2009 under the stage names J-Black , Duffle Black , Black and Lil Black , mainly on publications by Brutal Yungenz . Kapri's youth in Golden Acres was marked by conflict, poverty, violence and drug addiction. In fifth grade, he was expelled from school for a fight. As a result, he often stayed away from school, made money in a variety of ways, including selling drugs, and was often in conflict with the law. While he was in middle school , he was arrested for stealing a car. Furthermore, he came several times into the youth penitentiary. After the group Brutal Yungenz broke up, Kapri started publishing music on his own YouTube channel in 2012 . After joining the social media platform Instagram , he changed his stage name to Kodak Black . When Octave again came into conflict with the law and found himself in custody in December 2013, he was helped by the executive director of the music label Dollaz And Dealz , who paid lawyers for him, which gave him only a three-year suspended sentence instead of life imprisonment. After his release, Octave signed an artist contract with Dollaz And Dealz . He released his debut mixtape Project Baby through this label in December 2013 . As a result, Kapri continued to publish music videos on YouTube. The video for the previously unreleased song No Flockin received numerous views within a very short time and was its breakthrough after it was played on several radio stations, including OVO Sound by Canadian pop star Drake . The song eventually appeared on the December 2014 mixtape Heart of the Projects , which was re-released via Dollaz And Dealz . This mixtape also contained the song Skrt , which also became a hit after Kylie Jenner and again Drake posted videos on Instagram hearing the song. As a result, he was traded as an upcoming star in 2015. In October 2015, Kapri was arrested after a car chase on charges of drug possession, robbery and driving with an invalid driver's license, but was released after paying bail. In December 2015 Octave released his third mixtape institution via Dollaz And Dealz . In 2016 Kodak Black became part of the XXL Freshman Class , a selection of the most promising rappers from the renowned hip-hop magazine XXL . Kapri was arrested again in May of the same year. He is accused of robbery, deprivation of liberty, illegal possession of firearms and drugs, and driving with an invalid driver's license. Despite his jail time, his fourth mixtape about Dollaz and Dealz , Lil BIG Pac , was released on June 11, 2016, as announced, on Octave's 19th birthday. After it was initially announced in August 2016 that Octave would be released from prison in the foreseeable future, it was announced in September that he would remain detained for the time being due to unresolved allegations of sexual harassment.

In June 2017, his singles Tunnel Vision and No Flockin achieved platinum status. It is also the first platinum award that Kodak Black has received for its music.

On January 1st, 2018, Kapri was arrested at his Florida home after showing himself on an Instagram livestream with a toddler, drugs and a gun. In addition to illegal drug possession and child neglect, he is also accused of violating probation conditions.

Style and reception

Kodak Black's texts are shaped by his youth and origins. He himself describes his style as Project Music , as it is inextricably linked with life in the residential construction projects. While at the beginning of his career he mainly focused on his goals and his vision of the future, on his last mixtape Lil BIG Pac he articulates the constant state of worry that living in a poverty-ridden environment can bring with it. Kodak Black's musical style is influenced by rappers he heard in his youth, Boosie Badazz in particular is often cited as an inspiration. Most of the instrumentals used by Kodak Black are different from those of other southern rappers of his generation and are more reminiscent of releases by Boosie Badazz or Lil Wayne from the 2000s. Kodak Black has not worked very closely with producers or instrumentalists, but has requested most of the beats on Twitter . The distinguishing feature of Kodak Black's music is therefore not his often very different instrumentals, but his sharp but melodic voice. Journalist Lawrence Burney sees Kodak Black as an important voice representing the experience of black people in America .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2017	Painting Pictures	-	-	-	-	US3 platinum (53 weeks)US	First published: March 31, 2017 Sales: + 1,000,000
2018	Dying to Live	-	-	-	UK74 (1 week) UK	US1 gold (60 weeks)US	First published: December 14th, 2018 Sales: + 500,000

Mix tapes

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2016	Lil BIG Pac	-	-	-	-	US134 (16 weeks) US	First published: June 11, 2016
2017	Project Baby 2	-	-	-	-	US2 platinum (… Where.)US	First published: August 18, 2017 Sales: + 1,000,000
2018	Heart Break Kodak	-	-	-	-	US25 (4 weeks) US	First published: February 14, 2018

More mix tapes

• 2013: Project Baby
• 2014: Heart of the Projects
• 2015: Institution

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2014	No Flockin ' single track	-	-	-	-	US95 × 2 Double platinum (1 week)US	First published: July 27, 2014 Sales: + 2,040,000
2017	Tunnel Vision Painting Pictures	-	-	-	UK- silver UK	US6th × 3 Triple platinum (20 weeks)US	First published: February 16, 2017 Sales: + 3,200,000
	First Day Out single track	-	-	-	-	US61 (1 week) US	First published: June 16, 2017
	Patty Cake Painting Pictures	-	-	-	-	US76 (3 weeks) US	First published: August 9, 2017
	Transportin ' Project Baby 2	-	-	-	-	US46 platinum (20 weeks)US	First published: August 18, 2017 Sales: + 1,000,000
	Roll in Peace Project Baby 2	-	-	-	UK- silver UK	US31 × 2 Double platinum (26 weeks)US	First published: November 7, 2017 Sales: + 2,200,000; feat. XXXTentacion
	Codeine Dreaming Heart Break Kodak	-	-	-	-	US52 platinum (14 weeks)US	First published: November 24, 2017 Sales: + 1,000,000; feat. Lil Wayne
2018	Wake Up in the Sky Evil Genius	-	-	CH95 (1 week) CH	UK65 (4 weeks) UK	US11 × 3 Triple platinum (26 weeks)US	First published: September 14, 2018 Sales: + 3,105,000; with Gucci Mane & Bruno Mars
	If I'm Lyin, I'm Flyin Dying to Live	-	-	-	-	US56 (2 weeks) US	First published: September 28, 2018
	Zeze Dying to Live	DE37 (16 weeks) DE	AT31 (10 weeks) AT	CH13 (19 weeks) CH	UK7th platinum (20 weeks)UK	US2 × 4 Quadruple platinum (25 weeks)US	First published: October 12, 2018 Sales: + 4,990,000; feat. Travis Scott & Offset
	Take One Dying to Live	-	-	-	-	US81 (1 week) US	First published: November 16, 2018
	Calling My Spirit Dying to Live	-	-	-	-	US46 platinum (17 weeks)US	First published: November 30, 2018 Sales: + 1,000,000
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2017	Everything 1k Lil BIG Pac	-	-	-	-	US84 (1 week) US	Chart entry: March 4, 2017
	Conscience Painting Pictures	-	-	-	-	US93 gold (1 week)US	Chart entry: April 22, 2017 Sales: + 500,000; feat. Future
2018	MoshPit Dying to Live	-	-	-	-	US58 (1 week) US	Chart entry: December 29, 2018 feat. Juice Wrld
	Testimony Dying to Live	-	-	-	-	US74 (1 week) US	Chart entry: December 29, 2018
	Gnarly Dying to Live	-	-	-	-	US88 (1 week) US	Chart entry: December 29, 2018 feat. Lil Pump

More singles

• 2015: Skrilla
• 2015: Skrt
• 2016: Like Dat
• 2016: Going Viral ( feat.Boosie Badazz )
• 2016: Too Many Years (US:gold)
• 2016: There He Go (US:gold)
• 2017: Painting Pictures (US:gold)
• 2017: Horses ( feat.PnB Rock & A Boogie wit da Hoodie , US:platinum)

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2016	Lockjaw Wave Gods	-	-	-	-	US73 × 2 Double platinum (13 weeks)US	First published: May 27, 2016 Sales: + 2,000,000; French Montana feat. Kodak Black
2017	Drowning The Bigger Artist	-	-	-	UK- silver UK	US38 × 3 Triple platinum (21 weeks)US	First published: March 10, 2017 Sales: + 3,200,000; A Boogie wit da Hoodie feat. Kodak Black
	Pills and Automobiles Heartbreak on a Full Moon	-	-	-	-	US46 × 2 Double platinum (20 weeks)US	Initial release: August 4th, 2017 Sales: + 2,070,000 Chris Brown feat. Yo Gotti , A Boogie wit da Hoodie & Kodak Black
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2019	Big Boy Diamonds Woptober II	-	-	-	-	US100 (1 week) US	Chart entry: November 16, 2019 Gucci Mane feat. Kodak Black & London on da Track

Further guest contributions

• 2016: Benjamin (Nino Breeze feat. Kodak Black)
• 2016: Watch Me Crank (Iceberg feat.Kodak Black)
• 2016: Weatherman ( Yo Gotti feat.Kodak Black)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Denmark 2019: for the single Zeze  France 2019: for the single Zeze  Italy 2019: for the single Zeze  Canada 2017: for the single No Flockin 2020: for the song No More

Platinum record  Australia 2019: for the single Pills & Automobiles 2019: for the single Wake Up in the Sky  New Zealand 2019: for the single Zeze 2 × platinum record  Australia 2019: for the single Zeze

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	-	4 × platinum4th	280,000	aria.com.au
Denmark (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	45,000	ifpi.dk
France (SNEP)	-	gold1	-	100,000	snepmusique.com
Italy (FIMI)	-	gold1	-	25,000	fimi.it
Canada (MC)	-	2 × gold2	-	80,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	-	platinum1	30,000	nztop40.co.nz
United States (RIAA)	-	5 × gold5	27 × platinum27	29,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	3 × silver3	-	platinum1	1,200,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	3 × silver3	10 × gold10	33 × platinum33

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Listen To Kodak Black's Lil BIG Pac Mixtape. In: The FADER. Retrieved November 21, 2016 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Justin Ivey: Kodak Black Gets New Name. In: https://hiphopdx.com . May 2, 2018, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} The Break Presents: Kodak Black - XXL. In: XXL Mag.Retrieved on November 21, 2016 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Uncover Kodak Black's Music When He Was Known as J-Black - XXL. In: XXL Mag.Retrieved on November 21, 2016 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Michael McCrudden: KODAK BLACK - Before They Were Famous. July 5, 2016, accessed November 21, 2016 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Listen To Kodak Black's Institution Mixtape. In: The FADER. Retrieved November 22, 2016 . 
7. ↑ HipHopDX - http://hiphopdx.com : Kodak Black Arrested On Robbery, Assault & Other Charges . In: HipHopDX . ( hiphopdx.com [accessed November 22, 2016]).
8. ↑ ^{a b} Kodak Black to Be Released from Jail . In: Billboard . ( billboard.com [accessed November 22, 2016]).
9. ^ Kodak Black Sentenced to 120 Days in Jail . In: Billboard . ( billboard.com [accessed November 22, 2016]).
10. ↑ Premiere: Platinum for Kodak Black · Boutblank.com. Retrieved June 15, 2017 . 
11. ^ After house search: Kodak Black arrested | 16BARS.DE . In: 16BARS.DE . January 19, 2018 ( 16bars.de [accessed January 26, 2018]).
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Why Kodak Black's American Story Is So Important. In: The FADER. Retrieved November 21, 2016 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b c d} Germany Austria Switzerland UK Billboard
14. ↑ ^{a b c d} Music Sales Awards: UK US