KELVYN COLT

Kelvyn Colt, real name Kelvyn Benbella Ajala, was born in 1994 in Fulda, Germany. In 2000, the whole family moved to Wiesbaden, which is best known for its huge US military base. Here he began to study at the local law school.

After Kelvyn's interview for the local ZDF station was broadcast, a talent scout found him and offered him a job. This led to his first role - Romeo - in a soap opera for KIKA.

Soon after, he dropped out of law school and moved to England, where he graduated from Buckingham University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Despite his desire to further his education, he fell completely in love with music, which he had started making earlier in his parents' garage back in Wiesbaden.

In 2015, he released his first independent tracks "Narcotic" and "Traded For You", which made the well-known YT platform Colors take an interest in him. Just a year later, he unveiled his freestyle "Ball so hard" on Colors - it became a viral hit in Germany with more than 1.8 million views, which helped Colt establish himself on other music platforms including Vice's Noisey, which he sees as the new hope in hip hop. German Vogue named him as the future of hip hop.

In October 2016, Kelvyn signed a deal with Four Music, a subsidiary of Sony in Germany. After sold out shows in London, he began touring. Berlin, London, Paris, Los Angeles - he took turns performing and recording new singles everywhere. He also supported fellow hip hop artists with guest appearances, including RIN, Gashi, Ocean Wisdom and Chase Atlantic.

In 2017, Colt released his first project with Sony, the five-track EP "LH914", named after the one-way ticket he arrived in London with a few years earlier. His second musical collaboration with the Colors platform resulted in the release of the single "Bury Me Alive", which went viral again a few weeks after its release. In 2019, the track appeared on the soundtrack of the Netflix series "Wu Assassins" and subsequently reached the top of the US Shazam charts.

He released another successful EP, "Mind of Colt, Pt. 1", in 2018 on Sony Music Germany, as well as two more singles in 2019. His European tour that same year was hopelessly sold out. He was also the first German artist to go on a rap tour in China.

At the beginning of 2020, he terminated his collaboration with Sony and founded his own independent studio. Not long after, he announced a collaboration with Che Pop, Kanye West's producer.

The artist is also known for his relationship with fashion, having worked with luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hublot and Nike in the past.

In September 2020, he announced a collaboration with Mercedes Benz and became the face of the "EQC" project.