Introduction
Felix Antoine Blume (born 3 August 1984), better known as Kollegah is a German rapper. He is also known as "Kollegah der Boss", "Boss der Bosse" or the pseudonym "T.O.N.I.". He is signed at his own Hip-Hop Label Alpha Music Empire. His style and demeanor is heavily based on gangsta rap. Kollegah is known for his punchlines, double time-ability, complex and polysyllabic rhyme structures.
Biography
Felix Blume'sfather 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.
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.
His debut album, Alphagene, was released in 2007 as Selfmade Records' fourth album and reached #51 in the German album charts.
He currently lives in Düsseldorf and studies Jurisprudence at the University of Mainz. 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.
On May 9, 2014, 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.
In December 2015, Zuhältertape Vol. 4 was released on Selfmade Records as Kollegah's first universally-distributed mixtape/concept album. It at No. 1 on the German album charts with first week sales of 115,000 copies. It was certified Gold during the opening week.
A 77-minute film was made of Kollegah's visit to Palestine, and when it was uploaded to YouTube it went viral, receiving over 430,000 views within the first 24 hours.
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.
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 because of a fire while camping.
Kollegah responded on 20 March with the song "Fanpost", calling Fler a "fat potato" and claims that he was penetrated with a carrot.
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".
Discography
- Studio albums & Collaboration albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SWI | |||
| 2007 | Alphagene
| 51 | — | — | GER: 20,000+ |
| 2008 | Kollegah
| 17 | 48 | — | GER: 20,000+ |
| 2011 | Bossaura
| 5 | 19 | 14 | GER: 40,000+ |
| 2014 | King
| 1 | 1 | 1 | GER: 300,000+ AUT: 7,500+ |
| 2016 | Imperator
| 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SWI | ||||
| 2009 | Jung, brutal, gutaussehend (with Farid Bang)
| 30 | — | — | Put on the Index in June 2012. | |
| 2013 | Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2 (with Farid Bang)
| 1 | 1 | 1 | GER: 150,000+ AUT: 7,500+ | Put on the Index in February 2014. |
Awards and certifications
- 2008 Juice Awards 1st place in the category Newcomer National.
- 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.
- 2014 German 1 Live Krone in the category Best Hip-Hop-Act for the single Du bist Boss
- 2014 German Webvideo-Preis in the categories Epic, AAA for the music video Armageddon
- 2014 German Webvideo-Preis in the category Newbie for his YouTube promotion announcement
- 2015 German Echo for Best Interactive Act and best act in the category Hiphop/Urban
Gold-certification in Germany
- 2013: for the album Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2 with Farid Bang
- 2014: for the album King
Platinum-certification in Germany
- 2014: for the album King
Gold-certification in Austria
- 2013: for the album Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2 with Farid Bang
- 2014: for the album King
- Juice, Edition 03/2008, p. 28
- Juice, Edition 03/2009, p. 28
- [1]
- ^ "Deutscher Webvideo-Preis vergeben". Süddeutsche.de. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ "Bundesverband Musikindustrie: Gold-/Platin-Datenbank". Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- "IFPI Austria - Verband der österreichischen Musikwirtschaft". Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2016.