Bill Kapri, known to his childhood friends as Dieuson Octave and to the world as rapper Kodak Black, picked up a key to the city at his hometown of Pompano Beach Tuesday, a testament to his quiet tendency to share his wealth with the community even as he courts unfriendly headlines with legal troubles he’d just as soon forget.
Pompano Beach Mayor Rex Hardin praised Black as “an individual whose journey from these very streets to international acclaim has been remarkable, but whose heart has never left this community.”
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Grammy-nominated rapper and philanthropist Kodak Black was honored alongside 90-year-old volunteer Doris O’Donnell by the City of Pompano Beach on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. The city presented Kodak Black with the Key to the City, an honor reserved for individuals whose contributions have made a significant impact on the local community. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Grammy-nominated rapper and philanthropist Kodak Black was honored alongside 90-year-old volunteer Doris O’Donnell by the City of Pompano Beach on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. The city presented Kodak Black with the Key to the City, an honor reserved for individuals whose contributions have made a significant impact on the local community. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Black, 28, smiled and acknowledged bursts of applause as Hardin recounted some of the good deeds that led the city to select him for the “key to the city” honor. Over the past decade, he has donated air conditioning units to families in public housing, given away hundreds of turkeys during the winter holiday season, provided Christmas gifts and bicycles to local children and even helped 200 families pay their rent. Twice.
Black’s rise to fame started in 2016 with the release of his debut studio album “Painting Pictures.” Among his hit singles are “Tunnel Vision,” “Dying to Leave” and “Last Day In.”
“Today we’re not here to only celebrate the commercial success of Bill Kapri … but more importantly to acknowledge the impact he continues to make,” Hardin said. “Your music may have reached millions around the world, but your generosity has touched thousands right here in Pompano Beach.”
Pompano Beach spokeswoman Sandra King, who suggested Black for the honor, said she was impressed by the way he shared his good fortune with others without making a media spectacle out of his philanthropy.
Over the years, Black’s run-ins with the law have been a spectacle of a different kind. From a 2016 assault case in South Carolina to numerous arrests in Florida for drug and weapons possession, Black became a fixture of jails and courtrooms, culminating in his three-year, 10-month prison sentence on a federal weapons charge in 2019.
In that case, he was represented by South Florida defense lawyer Bradford Cohen, whose own ties to President Trump paid off with a commuted sentence on the last day of Trump’s first term in office.
Black acknowledged his past outside the City Commission chambers Tuesday, noting that he learned a lot from his troubles.
“You have to go through it to grow through it,” he said.
Without downplaying the seriousness of his legal troubles, King said Black deserved to have his positive impact acknowledged.
Pompano Beach activist Rodrick Phillips, a member of the New Life Group addiction recovery organization, said the city sent a powerful, constructive message in honoring Black. He said he has noticed Black’s good deeds for years, behind the scenes with no cameras or reporters watching his every move.
Phillips said, “Hopefully now more people will see him in another light.”
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.
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