POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A famous rapper returned to his stomping grounds to receive the key to his hometown city in Florida.
According to CBS12 News partner the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Bill Kapri, known to the world as Kodak Black, received the key to the city in his hometown of Pompano Beach on Tuesday.
Pompano Beach Mayor Rex Hardin described Kodak as “an individual whose journey from these very streets to international acclaim has been remarkable, but whose heart has never left this community.”
At the ceremony, a burst of applause could be heard as Hardin acknowledged the good deeds that led to the famous rapper receiving the key. Some of those deeds include donating air conditioning units to families in public housing, giving away turkeys during the holiday seasons, giving Christmas gifts and bicycles to children and helping 200 Pompano families pay their rent, not once but twice.
And here in Palm Beach County, in 2021, Kodak’s charity foundation, the Zachariah McQueen Foundation, partnered with the Palm Beach County outreach group, A Different Shade of Love to handout AC units in the city of Riviera Beach.
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The 28-year-old rapper rose to stardom in 2016 with the release of his studio album “Painting Pictures.”
Despite his fame and success, he has had a few run-ins with law enforcement, such as a 2016 assault case in South Carolina and numerous arrests in Florida for drugs and weapons possession. It all led to him receiving a three-year and 10-month prison sentence on a federal weapons charge in 2019. In the case, he was represented by a South Florida defense lawyer who had ties to President Donald Trump, who commuted the rapper’s prison sentence. CBS12 News did an exclusive interview with Kodak who discussed the president’s to commute his prison sentence.
Kodak acknowledged his past, stating, “You have to go through it to grow through it.”
Rodrick Phillips, a Pompano Beach activist and member of the New Life Group addiction recovery organization, said the city sent a powerful message by honoring Kodak.
“Hopefully, now more people will see him in another light,” Phillips said.
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