Felix Blume (born 3 August 1984) is a German rapper, known as Kollegah. He is also known as "Kollegah der Boss" or the pseudonym "T.O.N.I.". He is signed to the Hip-Hop independent label Selfmade Records. His rapping technique is heavily based on gangsta rap, but especially in the beginning of his career he frequently referred to his personal rapping style as "Zuhälterrap" (pimp rap). Kollegah is known for his punchlines, double time-ability, complex and polysyllabic rhyme-structures.
Biography[]
Felix Blume's [1] father is of Canadian descent and his mother of German descent. He spent his childhood partially without a father. His nickname Kollegah came from his Algerian stepfather. Kollegah grew up in Simmern.
In 2004 he graduated from the Herzog-Johann-Gymnasium in Simmern with an Abitur.[2]
From December 2004 until May 2005 Kollegah participated in rap battles on the online platform Reimliga Battle Arena (RBA) and won 11 out of 14 evaluated battles.[3][4]
He currently studies Jurisprudence at the University of Mainz.[5] To graduate the state examination he has to do a placement but currently he's concentrated on his career as rap artist.
In 2013 he received a Golden record for his collaboration album Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2 together with Farid Bang. 80,000 copies of the album were sold in the first week after release.[6]
On May 9, German Rapper Kollegah released his fourth solo album "King". It reached gold status in Germany within 24 hours after its release for more than 100,000 units and 160,000 within a week sold and has become the first album of a German artist to peak at number one of the global album charts from Spotify. Also, no other rap-album in Germany ever reached the Gold-status after just 24 hours.[7][8][9]
Kollegah is a Muslim, having converted at age 15.
Controversy[]
Feud with Aggro Berlin[]
On 11 March 2009, Chronik 2 was released, an album featuring the Selfmade Records artists. The song "Westdeutschlands Kings" performed by Kollegah, Favorite and Farid Bang, targeted insults at Sido, Fler and Kitty Kat from Aggro Berlin.[10]
On 13 March, a song titled "Früher wart ihr Fans" was released by Fler, Kitty Kat and Godsilla as a reaction. In the song, they accuse Selfmade Records artists of having created the feud for the sole purpose of marketing their album; Kitty Kat also attacks Favorite by referring to the death of his parents, who died in a car accident.
Kollegah responded on 20 March with the song "Fanpost", calling Fler a "fat potato" and claims that he was penetrated with a carrot.[11]
Fler responded with the song "Schrei nach Liebe", the chorus of which is heavily based on Die Ärzte's 1993 hit single "Schrei nach Liebe".[12]
Promotion for "King"[]
Kollegah started his promo phase for "King" more than a half year before the album was released, which is considered a unusually long period of time.
During his promotion phase he released five tracks from "King" ("Alpha", "AKs im Wandschrank", "Schwarzer Benz", "King", "Du bist Boss") and six promotion-only tracks ("Ruhe vor dem Sturm", "Armageddon", "NWO", "Wat is' denn los mit dir?", "Ghetto Workout", "Von Salat schrumpft der Bizeps"). He started a successful latenight-show on his YouTube-Channel "Bosshaft TV".
Discography[]
Main article: Kollegah discography
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Awards and Certifications[]
- 2008 Juice Awards 1st place in the category Newcomer National.[13]
- 2009 Juice Awards des Hip-Hop-Magazins Juice 1st place in the category Album National for his mixtape/street album Zuhältertape Volume 3 and second place in the category Künstler National.[14]
- 2014 German "Webvideo-Preis" in the categories "Epic", "AAA" for the music video "Armageddon" [15]
- 2014 German "Webvideo-Preis" in the category "Newbie" for his YouTube promotion announcement [16]
Gold-certification in Germany
- 2013: for the album Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2 with Farid Bang
- 2014: for the album King [17]
Platinum-certification in Germany
- 2014: for the album King [18]
Links:[]
A Rap from Kollegah: Drive by (Feat Farid Bang), Dynamit (Feat Farid Bang), Pushergene, Mondfinsternis, Bilionaires Club, Bossaura, Alpha, Buisness Paris,Zuhältertape 1, Zuhälter Tape 2, Zuhälter Tape 3, Boss der Bosse, Kollegah, Fanpost, Alphagene, Westdeutschlands Kings (Feat Favorite, Farid Bang).