Adam Kelly, known professionally as Adamn Killa, is an American rapper and social media personality. Kelly has been recognized for his collaborations with members of the YEAR0001 collective, including Yung Lean, Bladee, and Thaiboy Digital, as well as for his experimental contributions to the hip-hop genre.[citation needed]
Adamn Killa, legal name Adam Kelly, grew up in Chicago, Illinois. Kelly played baseball in high school and college. He played baseball with Gavin Lux growing up.[4]
Adamn studied music and began playing the trumpet at a young age under the direction of his great-great-uncle, Sonny Cohn, the renowned trumpeter of the Count Basie Orchestra. Adamn initially started making music at the age of 14, joining the group 197 O$G with fellow Chicago-rapper Lucki.[citation needed] He first gained some traction while he was still in high school in 2014 when the song "#PhaseMe" with Monster Mike started to go viral on the now-defunct platform Vine. After high school, Adamn attended Illinois Central College on a full baseball scholarship, still creating music on the side as stated in an interview.[citation needed]
Adamn would start to build a real name for himself throughout 2016 when he started working with Swedish rappers Yung Lean, Bladee and Thaiboy Digital, creating popular songs like "Psycho", "Ten" and "Cashin". He would later drop out from college to join them throughout Europe for the Warlord Tour, leaving his baseball career behind and pursuing music full time from there on.[citation needed]
On March 30, 2016, Adamn released his debut mixtape, Back 2 Ballin under YEAR0001. Not even two months later, Adamn released what would become his biggest song to date, "Ten" featuring Yung Lean. [citation needed] Adamn would eventually split away from Yung Lean and Bladee due to his falling out with his former European manager Emilio Fagone, one of the founders of YEAR0001. Their falling out was caused due to unpaid royalties and slimy business tactics. This wouldn't deter Adamn as he continued to release music consistently. This did however cause his collaborations with YEAR0001 artists to eventually stop, effectively cutting off his overseas audience at the time.[citation needed]
The next couple of years would be stagnant for Adamn, as his growth slowed down due to him splitting away from the Sad Boys and Drain Gang. He would stay consistent though with 2017's I Am Adamn and 2018's Back 2 Ballin 2.[citation needed]
In a November 2024 interview, Adamn revealed that he was previously offered a record deal in 2018 from Kanye West to sign to G.O.O.D. Music, alongside many other major record labels. Adamn and his team turned down these offers however due to them not favoring Adamn's creative or financial needs, instead choosing to remain fully independent.[citation needed]
In August 2020, Adamn previewed one of his most highly-anticipated songs to date, "Cheerio" featuring Lil Uzi Vert. The song would cause a lot of hardships however, due to Uzi's feature price of $20,000, paying producers, clearing the feature through Uzi's label, amongst other things. The song would finally release almost a year later on June 20, 2021.[citation needed]
He would briefly step away from music in 2021 as it was no longer a reliable source of income. He focused his efforts into other ventures, such as investing into various crypto currencies and doing Uber/Uber Eats. He eventually returned to music as he wasn't as happy while not creating.[citation needed]
Adamn started to see a resurgence in popularity throughout 2024 with songs like "Prada at 13", "Torta Pounder" and "A.D.H.D Rant 1". He would capitalize off this buzz by releasing his February 2025 mixtape A.D.H.D Rant Vol. 1.[citation needed]
On June 20, 2025, Adamn released his highly anticipated mixtape, Generational Run. He performed at Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash music festival the day after releasing the mixtape. In November that same year, Adamn made headlines after being arrested by police after telling cops "Arrest Me, Daddy" as part of a series of social media videos.[5]
2015
October: Kelly releases his first EP, Libra Season, with artist Blank Body.[6]
2016
March: Kelly's debut mixtape, Back 2 Ballin, is released.[7][8]
May: Kelly releases his single, Ten, with Swedish rapper Yung Lean, alongside an accompanying music video.[9]
July: Kelly announces the release of his mixtape MR650 and releases a single titled Catch Me.[10]
2017
January: Kelly releases the music video to his single, "Commas", produced by Ryan Hemsworth.[11]
June: Kelly releases his 16-track project, I Am Adamn.[12]
December: Kelly releases a joint project with American rapper—and at-the-time girlfriend—Killavesi, titled Love Not a Killa.[13]
2018
March: Kelly releases his project Adamn Everlasting (In Loving Memory of Jalen) with appearances from rappers Yung Lean, Riff Raff, Lil Reek, and Z Money.[14]
2020
April: Kelly releases his single, Hit the Adamn, with an accompanying dance.[15]
2021
November: Kelly launches accusations against rapper Lil Uzi Vert, DJ Drama, and Don Cannon, alleging they scammed him of twenty-thousand dollars for a feature.[16]
2025
March: Kelly charts over Drake on the TikTok music charts while being an independent artist.[17]
June: Kelly releases “Generational Run” and performs at Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash Music Festival
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