Kodak Black

Rapper Kodak Black was born Dieuson Octave on June 11, 1997, in Pompano Beach, Fla., to Haitian immigrants. He was raised by his mother, Marcelene. He developed a fascination with songwriting while attending C. Robert Markham Elementary School. He began frequently browsing through dictionaries and thesauruses to enhance his linguistic skills. Known by the nickname Black, he regularly hung out with other young rappers at a local recording studio. He impressed his older peers, who became his role models. He joined local rap group Brutal Yungenz at the age of 12, then joined The Kolyons a few years later when Brutal Yungenz split up. He assumed the stage name Kodak Black in 2014 and released his first mixtape, "Heart of the Projects." Several more mixtapes followed, with his fourth, "Lil B.I.G. Pac," making it onto two Billboard music charts in 2016. Many of Black's songs centered around his experiences growing up in his public housing project, Golden Acres, where little money and few paths for success tended to favor a criminal lifestyle. Black signed with Atlantic Records and released his first official album, "Painting Pictures," in March of 2017. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. He released a romance-themed album on Valentine's Day 2018 titled "Heartbreak Kodak."