Combining vivid street vignettes with the soul of a world-weary blues singer, Kodak
Black is one of rap’s most indelible innovators. Just over a decade since he launched
his first single, 2014’s “No Flockin,” straight onto the Hot 100, the prolific South Florida
superstar keeps racking up the numbers — 44 Billboard Hot 100 chart placements, 31
RIAA-certified platinum or gold records, 25 million monthly listeners on Spotify, 28 billion
global streams — and yet, it somehow seems like he’s nowhere near the top of his
powers.
Kodak entered 2025 with serious motion following a pair of late 2024 mixtapes that
captured his thrilling duality: the haunted and inward-looking Dieuson Octave, titled after
his birth name, and Trill Bill, which leaned into his “fly, fresh, and foolish” side, to quote
the man himself. As if that wasn’t enough, on Christmas he stuffed fans’ stockings with
Gift for the Streets, a star-studded affair featuring Lil Yachty, Veeze, Rob49, No Limit
Records OG C-Murder, and more, including a historic Hot Boys reunion between
Juvenile and BG.
He’s a game collaborator regularly sought out by fellow rap giants (Travis Scott,
Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Juice WRLD, Playboy Carti), but quick to lend
his shine to young artists on the rise, too, as heard on his Vulture Love & ZapStars
compilation tapes.
All of that came off the back of massive hits like 2021’s “Super Gremlin” (No. 3 on the
Hot 100) and 2018’s “ZEZE” featuring Scott and Offset (No. 2), not to mention Billboard
200 top 10 albums including his one-two punch debut Painting Pictures (No. 3) and
Dying to Live (No. 1).
As he builds toward his eighth studio album — and 20th full-length project overall —
Kodak’s towering vision and status continue to transcend rap. As an entrepreneur and
philanthropist, he’s become a keeper of the culture, shaping music at large and uplifting
his Florida community, from quietly buying and building up local businesses to covering
the entire Golden Acres community’s rent for 2 months during tough economic times, to
giving out AC units in the heat of the summer, on to his annual Thanksgiving Turkey
Drive — last year Kodak gave out 1,800 turkeys in honor of the 1800 block he grew up
on.
