Bill Kahan Kapri, professionally known as Kodak Black, is an American rapper who first gained recognition in 2014 with his single “No Flockin.” His debut album, “Painting Pictures” (2017), reached No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and featured the top 10 single “Tunnel Vision” on the Billboard Hot 100. Kodak Black’s second album, “Dying to Live” (2018), topped the Billboard 200, with the single “Zeze” (featuring Travis Scott and Offset) peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100.
Throughout his career, Kodak Black has experienced both mainstream success and faced controversies and legal issues. His legal troubles began in middle school and escalated in the late 2010s. In 2016, he faced accusations of rape and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in South Carolina, eventually pleading to the lesser charge of assault and battery in 2021.
In 2019, he was arrested for false statements to possess weapons and was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison, with his sentence later commuted by President Donald Trump in 2021. Despite being incarcerated, he released his third studio album, “Bill Israel” (2020), and followed up with his fourth studio album, “Back for Everything” in 2022, featuring the top 3 Hot 100 chart single “Super Gremlin” as a bonus track.
Kodak Black was born Dieuson Octave on June 11, 1997, in Pompano Beach, Florida, to Haitian immigrant Marcelene Octave. He changed his name legally to Bill Kahan Kapri. Raised by his mother in Golden Acres, a public housing project in Pompano Beach, he started rapping during elementary school and recorded music in a local trap house after school.
Despite facing challenges during his youth, including school expulsions and arrests for brawls and auto theft, he used his time to enhance his vocabulary by reading thesauruses and dictionaries. Kodak Black stated that he had two options while growing up: “sell drugs with a gun on his hip or rap.”
At the age of six, Kodak Black adopted the nickname “Black” and later “Lil’ Black”. When he joined Instagram, he chose the username “Kodak Black” as a reference to Kodak’s association with pictures, and it eventually became his stage name and a favorite among his fans.
Kodak Black’s music journey began when he joined the rap group “Brutal Youngnz” at age 12, using the stage name J-Black. He later joined the local rap group “The Kolyons.” In December 2013, he released his first mixtape, “Project Baby,” followed by “Heart of the Projects” in December 2014 and “Institution” in December 2015.
Drake’s endorsement of Kodak Black’s song “Skrt” through a video posted on Instagram in October 2015 significantly boosted his popularity, even though it faced objections from other rappers like Earl Sweatshirt. The exposure led him to sign a deal with Atlantic Records. In May 2016, Kodak Black and Lil Uzi Vert planned to collaborate for a national tour called the “Parental Advisory Tour,” but Kodak Black did not eventually appear on the tour.
In August 2016, he was featured on French Montana’s single “Lockjaw,” which reached number 23 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Kodak Black’s single “Skrt” reached number 10 on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles” chart in the same month. In June 2016, he released his fourth mixtape, “Lil B.I.G. Pac,” which became his first mixtape to chart on Billboard.
Kodak Black was recognized as one of XXL magazine’s “2016 Freshman Class” in June 2016. However, he faced criticism in the same month after a studio session video surfaced, showing him making derogatory remarks about dark-skinned black women, which sparked controversy and was considered misogynoir.
Despite facing legal challenges, Kodak Black continued to release music, and in February 2017, he dropped the single “Tunnel Vision,” which reached number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the Canadian Hot 100. On March 31, 2017, he released his debut studio album, “Painting Pictures,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 71,000 equivalent units in its first week.
Subsequently, Kodak Black released the follow-up mixtape, “Project Baby 2,” in August 2017, and a deluxe version titled “Project Baby 2: All Grown Up” in November 2017. The single from the deluxe version, “Codeine Dreaming,” peaked at number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100.
