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, after he was found with cocaine and amphetamine in Bad Kreuznach. 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.
2008–2010: Kollegah, Chronik 2, ZHT 3, Jung, brutal, gutaussehend and feud with Aggro Berlin
On 28 August 2008, Blume released his second studio album Kollegah, which peaked at 17 in Germany, 48 in Switzerland and sold over 20,000 copies.
On 17 April 2009, Chronik 2 was released, an album featuring the Selfmade Records artists Kollegah, Favorite, Casper and Shiml. The previously released song "Westdeutschlands Kings" performed by Kollegah, Favorite and Farid Bang, targeted insults at Sido, Fler and Kitty Kat from Aggro Berlin. In 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".
Three months after the release of Chronik 2, Blume released his first collaborative album with Farid Bang, called Jung, brutal, gutaussehend. In December, Blume released the third part of his Zuhältertape-Series. A year later, Selfmade released the a limited box set with all three Zuhältertape's and the Hoodtape Volume 1, which was re-released on 18 December 2010 as Hoodtape Volume 1 X-Mas Edition with some additional and extended tracks.
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.