KB (rapper)

Kevin Elijah Burgess was born in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 21, 1988,[1] into a military family.[2] Shortly after his birth his parents moved to Southern Illinois where he was raised for eight years. When he was 8 years old, his parents divorced and he moved back with his mother to the south-side of St. Petersburg, which according to Burgess is "probably one of the worst areas in the state."[2] He did well in school and at age 15 was offered an opportunity to pursue college through a program called St. Petersburg Collegiate High School.[2] But despite this opportunity, he struggled with extreme depression and experimented with various drugs to try to relieve it. He began struggling at school due to his problems with his personal life, and even contemplated suicide.[2][3]

Burgess is currently married with two sons and a daughter.[4][5]

After high school, Burgess enrolled in Bible college and befriended a group of Christian rappers and together they formed a hip hop group called HGA, short for His Glory Alone.[2][3] HGA eventually caught the interest of Lecrae, Ben Washer, and DJ Official,[3] and were featured with Tedashii on the track "Go" from DJ Official's album Entermission.[6][7] Burgess was invited onto the “Acquire the Fire” tour by Lecrae, and was asked to join the Reach Records team just a few months later.[3]

Burgess signed with Reach Records in 2010, and appeared that year on the album Rehab by Lecrae.[8] His mixtape Who is KB? followed a year later, as did appearances with PRo and Tedashii.[8][9][10][11] Who is KB? garnered 30,000 downloads by the following year.[8] His first single, "Hello", featured Suzy Rock and was released in October 2011.[12] In January 2012, a second single, "Zone Out" featuring Chris Lee Cobbins, was released.[13] Burgess then made an appearance with Andy Mineo on the Trip Lee album The Good Life.[8] A third single by Burgess, "Go Off", featured Tedashii and Andy Mineo, and was released in June.[14] The following month, his debut album Weight & Glory was released.[15][16]

On May 30, 2013, Reach announced a four-part project entitled "1st & 16th". This project would consist of Burgess releasing a new song every first and sixteenth of June and July. On June 1, Part 1, HCB Freestyle was released.[17] The songs Ride and Be All Right were also part of the 1st and 16th project.

On February 10, 2014, KB announced his new project, an EP entitled 100, which was released on March 4, 2014.[18] Burgess appeared in Family Force 5 music video for the song "BZRK", released on May 23, 2014, on which Burgess is a featured artist.[19]

On February 3, 2015, KB took to social media to reveal his second studio album, Tomorrow We Live, along with the cover and release date. It was scheduled to be released on April 21, 2015.[20] The first single off the album "Sideways" featuring Lecrae was released on February 23, 2015.[21] The second single "Crowns & Thorns (Oceans)" was released on March 10, 2015.

On October 20, 2017, KB released his third studio album Today We Rebel.[22] The first single off the album "Tempo" was released a year prior to the album's release date.[23] The second single off the album "Monster" featuring Aha Gazelle was released on September 15, 2017.[24]

In 2020, he announced that he would not be renewing his contract with Reach Records, and instead signed with Essential Sound, a Sony Music imprint.[25]