Kollegah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kollegah
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Kollegah in 2015
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Felix Martin Andreas Matthias Blume |
| Born | 3 August 1984 Friedberg, West Germany |
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| Years active | 2003–present |
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Felix Martin Andreas Matthias Blume (born 3 August 1984), known professionally as Kollegah, is a German rapper. He releases his music via his own label, Alpha Music Empire.
Born in Friedberg and raised by a single mother in Simmern, he started rapping in the Reimliga Battle Arena in December 2004. Intending to pursue a solo career as a rapper, Kollegah released his first mixtape Zuhältertape in July 2005 and was signed to Selfmade Records in December of the same year. He went on to pursue a variety of styles on subsequent albums Alphagene (2007), Kollegah (2008) and Bossaura (2011). His fourth studio album, King, was released in 2014 and became his best-selling album to date. His fifth album, Zuhältertape Vol. 4, was released in 2015, Imperator in 2016 and Monument in 2018.
Kollegah also released four collaborative studio albums with German rapper Farid Bang, the Jung brutal gutaussehend tetralogy, between 2009 and 2018.
Biography
1984–2005: Early life, Reimliga Battle Arena, Zuhältertape and Alphagene
Felix Blume was born on 3 August 1984 in Friedberg, Hesse to a Canadian father and a German mother. His parents divorced during his childhood. After the divorce, he moved with his mother to Simmern in Rhineland-Palatinate. He attended the Herzog-Johann-Gymnasium, where he passed his Abitur exam in 2005. Through his Algerian stepfather he converted to Islam. From December 2004 until May 2005 Kollegah participated in rap battles hosted on online platform Reimliga Battle Arena (RBA) and won 11 out of 14 evaluated battles.
Blume released his first Mixtape, the Zuhältertape (ZHT) for free on 20 July 2005 on his website. The 14-track long project was downloaded – according to Blume – over 5,000 times in one month. The project was re-released in December 2005 through Selfmade Records. In July 2006, Blume published his second Mixtape Boss der Bosse (ZHT 2). He was criticised for his live performance during the Splash! in 2006. Blume's first studio album Alphagene was set to release in September 2007, but was postponed to November. Alphagene became Kollegahs first project to enter the German charts on 30 November 2007. The album debuted on number 51 and left the charts next week. According to Selfmade Records, the album was sold over 20,000 times.
2011–2015: Bossaura, Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2, King and Zuhältertape 4
In 2011, Kollegah released his album Bossaura, which peaked at number 5 in German album charts. Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 2, his collaboration album with Farid Bang, was released in 2013 and reached number 1 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It sold more than 80,000 copies in the first week. Kollegahs album King in 2014 sold more than 160,000 copies in the first week and was his second number-one album. Zuhältertape 4 (ZHT 4) was released in December 2015 and also reached number 1 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
2016–2017: Imperator and Legacy
In March 2016, Blume founded his own label Alpha Music Empire. The first signing was the rapper Seyed. His debut studio album Engel mit der AK peaked on number three of the German album charts. On 2 September 2016 he announced his sixth studio album and first under his own label Imperator, which was released on 9 December 2016. Imperator peaked at number one of the German, Austrian and Swiss album charts. It also became his third solo album to receive a gold certificate. On 10 March 2017, Kollegah announced his first best-of album Legacy and the "Kollegah Gold-Award", a compilation of all his albums released under Selfmade Records between 2005 and 2015. Legacy was supported by two singles, "Legacy" and "Millennium". Legacy was released on 14 July 2017 and peaked in the top 15 of German-speaking Europe.
2017–present: JBG 3, Platin war gestern, Monument, Alphagene II and NBK
Kollegah and Farid Bang regularly teased Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 3 (JBG 3) between March 2016 and 2017. The album was officially announced on 8 September 2017. "Sturmmaske auf (Intro)", the first single of the album was announced on 21 September 2017 and released a week later. The single became an immediate success for them, becoming their first and only single to reach the pole position of the German singlecharts. Two more singles have been released; "Gamechanger" and "Ave Maria", both of them entered the charts on high positions. Following the release of the album in December 2017, it broke multiple records in Germany, including the fastest rap album to be certified gold in Germany (they sold 100,000 copies in eight days though pre-orders). and the most streamed project in a week on Spotify by a German artist.
During their live performance of "All Eyez on us", they announced a reissue of Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 3 with the title Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 3: Platin war gestern. The record was planned to include two EPs – Älter Brutaler Skrupelloser EP and Nafri Trap EP, Vol. 1. The album was scheduled for release in June but was postponed to 10 August 2018, following the duos desire to expand the Älter Brutaler Skrupelloser EP to a full album. Nafri Trap EP, Vol. 1 was released on 29 June 2018 as an apology to their fans. Platin war gestern was supported by three singles – "All Eyez on Us", "Mitternacht 2" and "In die Unendlichkeit". The project became their third collaborative studio album to debut on the pole positions of the German, Austrian and Swiss albumcharts.
Blume released his seventh studio album, Monument, in December 2018. The album Alphagene II followed in December 2019. Alphagene II was his eighth number 1 album. In January 2021, he released the album Natural Born Killers (NBK), a collaboration album with Asche, who released his music at Kollegah's label between 2018 and March 2021.
Other ventures
In February 2014, Blume launched his own fitness program named Bosstransformation. Two years later he launched the Bosstransformation 2, an updated version. In November 2015, Blume launched his own clothing line Deus Maximus. A year before, his first brand Copayn had flopped. With his new brand Deus Maximus he has a cooperation with Def Shop, one of the biggest German online shops.
Personal life
Blume studied law at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz for some years.
At the age of 15, Blume came in contact with Islam through his Algerian stepfather. He converted to the religion in the same year.
During a concert of his "Imperator" tour in Leipzig, there was a violent incident onstage. As is often the case with rap concerts, a rap battle between two spectators should be performed on the stage. One of the participants tried to grab Blume's sunglasses. As a result, Blume shoved the man, kicked him and punched him in the face. A few hours later, videos of the attack were uploaded to YouTube and Facebook. An uninvolved person reported Blume to the police.
Discography
- Alphagene (2007)
- Kollegah (2008)
- Bossaura (2011)
- King (2014)
- Zuhältertape Vol. 4 (2015)
- Imperator (2016)
- Monument (2018)
- Alphagene II (2019)
- Golden Era Tourtape (2020)
- Natural Born Killas (2021)
- Zuhältertape Vol. 5 (2021)
- Free Spirit (2022)
- La Deutsche Vita (2023)
- Cross Border Armageddon (2023)
Tours
- Alphagene Tour (2008)
- Mittelfinger Hoch Tour (2009)
- Teens for Cash Tour (2010)
- Je mehr Testo besser Tour (2010)
- Live 2011 Tour (2011)
- JBG 2 Tour (2013)
- King Tour (2014)
- Red Light Tour (2016)
- Imperator Tour (2017)
- JBG 3 Tour (2018)
- Monument Tour (2019)
Achievements
Five of Kollegahs projects have gone at least gold in Germany and six of them reached the pole position of the German album charts.
