Kidd Kenn

Dontrell Smith (born January 16, 2003), known professionally as Kidd Kenn, is an American rapper and singer from Chicago, Illinois. He rose to prominence with his singles "No Brakes" and "Moves" (featuring Rico Nasty).

Early life
Dontrell Smith was born on January 16, 2003, in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, Chicago. He dropped out of high school during his freshman year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he moved to Los Angeles, where he took on great responsibilities, paying bills and doing everything on his own. This situation led him to start making song covers, which eventually provoked him to take his rap career seriously.

Career
Kidd Kenn's first released track, "Eriod", served as his debut commercial single, accompanied by a music video. After the success of his hit single "No Brakes", which received millions of streams across various platforms, he considered rapping as a full-time career. On August 11, 2018, Kenn released his debut mixtape, Childish, featuring a guest verse from Katie Got Bandz. As of February 9, 2024, the mixtape was ranked number 43 on the Album of the Year chart.

A year later, Smith's career began to take off with his hit singles, leading to his signing with Island Records. After signing a recording deal, he released his second mixtape, Child's Play, in 2020. In September 2020, he released "Freestyle", featuring Delli Boe, accompanied by a music video. On June 11, 2021, he released his debut extended play, Problem Child. Since then, he has collaborated with Rico Nasty on the song "Moves". On October 5, 2021, Kidd Kenn made history by appearing as the first gay male rapper in the BET Hip Hop Awards Rap Cypher, performing alongside Toosii, Lakeyah, Symba, and DJ Hed. On May 20, 2022, he released the song "Body" as a promotional single for his EP Celebrating Pride, which later became the lead single. On June 17, 2022, Kenn released his single "At It Again", a collaboration with Belize singer Delli Boe, accompanied by a music video.

On June 29, 2022, Kidd Kenn released a single titled "Want Not A Need" featuring Baby Tate. He also released an EP titled Celebrating Pride that same year. After the release, he went on to release another extended play titled Grown in July 2022. In August 2022, Kidd Kenn released a cover version of "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X, lending a glamorous, feminine touch to the song. In December 2022, Grown was ranked at number 16 on The Triibe's 25 best Chicago hip hop and R&B albums of 2022. He released his fifth EP, Busy Being Bad, on October 20, 2023.