Krept and Konan is a British hip hop duo from London, consisting of Casyo Valentine "Krept" Johnson BEM (born 4 February 1990,

Gipsy Hill Gipsy Hill in south London is a hilly neighbourhood spanning the southern parts of the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark characterised for its great views of the City of London and Dulwich. Historically, north of its traditional Wes ...

) and Karl Dominic "Konan" Wilson BEM (born 3 September 1989,

Thornton Heath Thornton Heath is a district of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is around north of the town of Croydon, and south of Charing Cross. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Thornton Heath was in the Co ...

), the son of Delroy Wilson otherwise known as 'Jamaica's first child star'. Their first major release was the mixtape '' Young Kingz'', released on 2 September 2013. As of 3 May 2013, Krept and Konan signed a record deal with

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

. Their debut album '' The Long Way Home'' was released on 5 July 2015 and entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at number 2. The duo's highest-charting single is " Freak of the Week" featuring

Jeremih Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. Jeremih's commercial debut single, "Birthday Sex", ...

, which charted at number 9 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Krept and Konan have both starred together in the film '' The Intent'' (2016) and reprised their roles in the prequel '' The Intent 2: The Come Up'' (2018).

Early life

Krept is one of two siblings. His father was in prison for drug offences and his older brother was "a lot of trouble", so he felt like his mother's last hope. Krept went to secondary school at Stanley Technical College (now

Harris Academy South Norwood Harris Academy South Norwood is a city academy in South Norwood, London, for students of both sexes aged 11–18. The school was designated as a Business and Enterprise College by the Department for Education and Skills when it was formerly call ...

), while Konan went to Haling Manor School (now

Harris Academy Purley Harris Academy Purley (formerly ''Haling Manor High School'') is an academic secondary school in South Croydon, England. It is also part of the Harris Federation. Haling Manor High School was one of only fifteen schools in the country to be awa ...

). Krept studied accounting at the University of Portsmouth. Konan was arrested multiple times in his youth, including for stealing a jumper and robbing a McDonalds restaurant. He went to jail for a year in 2007 for the latter offence.

Music career

2005–2010: Formation and career beginnings

In 2005, Krept and Konan met and formed a friendship when their schools played each other at football. They were making music under the same aliases but were also members of 'Gipset', a gang based in Gipsy Hill, in which Cadet, who was Krept's cousin, was also involved. In 2009 they became a musical duo and started to take music seriously. Shortly after their formation, in 2010 the duo released their first mixtape titled ''Redrum'' featuring collaborations from London underground rappers, Killa Ki, Snap and many more. In 2010 the rap duo released their second mixtape titled ''Tsunami'' featuring several mainstream artists including

Ghetts Justin Clarke, better known by his stage name Ghetts (formerly Ghetto), is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter. His music has been played on national radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100, BBC Asian Network, and BBC Radio 1Xtra. C ...

, Giggs, Scorcher and Lil Nova.

2011–2014: ''Young Kingz'' and commercial breakthrough

In 2011, they released a cover of Jay-Z's and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's " Otis" which helped them rise to fame. The video reached five million views in its first five days of being uploaded to YouTube. However, with much pressure received from Jay-Z's legal team the video was removed from the duo's profile. Undeterred by the controversy, they released a cover of

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

and

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...

's "The Motto", launched their own clothing line called Play Dirty and early into 2012 were invited to join the British rapper Skepta on his tour in the UK. They appeared on

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

's 2011 mixtape '' Happy Birthday'' and in 2013 they released their third mixtape '' Young Kingz'', with features from

Chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

, G FrSH, Giggs, George the Poet, Yungen, Ari, Yana Toma, Fekky, Siah and Anthony Thomas. The album's promotional single "Don't Waste My Time" rose to fame in January 2014, with notable artists such as French Montana,

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

, G FrSH, Double S, Lady Leshurr, Yungen,

Sneakbo Agassi Babatunde Odusina (born 25 July 1992), better known by his stage name Sneakbo, is a British rapper. His first song, " The Wave", peaked at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart and he has since released a number of top 40 hits, such as " Zi ...

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK (, ), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Award, and has received the ASCAP Vangua ...

, Dru Blu, Jacob Banks and

Dot Rotten Joseph Ellis-Stephenson (born 19 October 1988), better known by his stage name Dot Rotten or Zeph Ellis, is a British grime MC, rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Lambeth, South London. Having released a series of mixtapes inde ...

all contributing to remixes of the track.

also freestyled over the beat on Charlie Sloth's ''Fire in the Booth''. Winning Best UK Newcomer at the 2013

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and ...

was one of the big breaks the duo had. With low promotion compared to other artists. They released "Don't Waste My Time" as a single in March 2014 and it entered the

at number 154.

2014–2017: ''The Long Way Home, 7 Days'' and ''7 Nights''

On 29 June 2014, they attended the BET Awards which was held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California and received an award for 'Best International Act: UK' by BET International and beating

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. D ...

, Laura Mvula,

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut stud ...

and

. On 3 March 2015, ''Croydon Advertiser'' announced the duo as the 39th most powerful people from the Croydon borough, for their pioneering movement and recent success in the music industry. On 28 March 2015, they released a video for "Certified" featuring Rick Ross. The song serves as the first promotional single from their debut album '' The Long Way Home''. The song was subsequently added to BBC Radio 1Xtra's playlists. ''The Long Way Home'' was released in July 2015. The lead single from the album, " Freak of the Week", features vocals from American rapper

and was released on 28 June 2015. The song entered and peaked at number nine on the

, making it the duo's first top ten single on the chart and Jeremih's second. 25 June 2015 on YouTube, a remix of " Freak of the Week" was published by reggae and dancehall artists

Popcaan Andrae Hugh Sutherland (born 19 July 1988), known professionally as Popcaan, is a Jamaican singer. In 2008, Popcaan joined Vybz Kartel's Gaza Music Empire. In 2010, he released his breakthrough international hit "Clarks" with Kartel, an ode ...

& Beenie Man. The album was released on 5 July 2015 through

Virgin EMI Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

and Def Jam, and features numerous high-profile musicians, including

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...

, Skepta,

Emeli Sandé Adele Emily Sandé, ( ; born 10 March 1987), known professionally as Emeli Sandé, is a Scottish singer and songwriter. Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, and raised in Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by an English mother and a Zambian father ...

and

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 20 ...

. They released a double mixtape, ''7 Days'' and ''7 Nights'' on 19 October 2017. 7 Days focused on rap, whilst 7 Nights focused on RnB. They peaked at number 6 and number 8 respectively on the

2017–2020: ''Revenge Is Sweet''

On 10 May 2018, Krept and Konan released a song called "Crepes and Cones (Ya Dun Know)" to promote their restaurant. It featured

Mostack Montell Samuel Daley (born 31 August 1994), known professionally as MoStack, is a British rapper and singer from Hornsey in North London. After releasing a string of online songs and non-album singles between 2014 and 2016, he released his debut ...

and was produced by Steel Banglez. On 3 November 2019, the duo released their first album in four years, ''Revenge Is Sweet''.

2021–present: ''We Are England''

In June 2021, Krept and Konan appeared in the BBC Three documentary ''Krept and Konan: We Are England'', where they make a football song for the UEFA Euros Tournament and get to know the England squad.

Other projects

Krept and Konan launched the Positive Direction foundation on 6 November 2017 at

, Krept's old school. The foundation provides workshops in "music production, engineering and songwriting". The duo also launched their restaurant, Crepes & Cones, on 12 May 2018 alongside grime artist J2K. Hundreds of fans lined up during its opening weekend, with food shortages due to the large number of orders. The restaurant also employs young offenders to give them a chance to rehabilitate. In 2019, Krept and Konan also created the first series of BBC Three's ''The Rap Game UK'' alongside DJ Target. Adopting the format of the US version, seven MCs battled to get signed for a single record deal. The show was renewed for a second season, which aired in 2020.

Personal lives

Konan lost his stepfather on 1 July 2011, when masked gunmen followed Konan into the house. One of the gunmen had targeted Konan for dating his ex-girlfriend, but shot his stepfather in the chest when he tried to chase the gunmen out of the house. This experience was later told on the song "My Story". Krept lost his cousin, named Cadet, in a car accident on 9 February 2019. He has a daughter with model Sasha Ellese, named Nala, who was born on 11 June 2020. The duo lost close friend and business partner Nyasha "Nash" Chagonda to suicide in June 2018, who was commemorated in "Broski" on the album ''Revenge Is Sweet.'' They are both avid supporters of football club Manchester United.

Achievements

In 2013, the duo broke the record for 'Highest-Charting UK album by an Unsigned Act'. The pair earned the title with '' Young Kingz'', which entered into the top 20 in the

. Following the rap duo success, they won a MOBO award (Best Hip-Hop Act 2014) and BET award. Both were awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to music and the community in Croydon.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Tours

*2011: Skepta Wedding Bells tour (supporting act) *2012: Devlin tour (supporting act) *2013: Young Kingz show live *2014:

''Demonstration'' tour (supporting act) *2016: Night to Remember Tour *2019: Revenge Is Sweet Tour

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{Authority control English hip hop groups English male rappers English musical duos Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 2009 Black British musical groups Rappers from London Hip hop duos Recipients of the British Empire Medal