Kodak Black Receives Honorary Key to Pompano Beach

The Pompano Beach native is putting his legal troubles in the rearview mirror.

July 9, 2025

Image: Kodak Black stands in middle next to Pompano Beach commissioners

Kodak Black now has an honorary key to his hometown despite his long history of legal trouble. Photo via Facebook/City of Pompano Beach

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As Kodak Black tries to move on from his well-documented legal troubles, the City of Pompano honored the hometown rapper on Tuesday for his contributions to the community.

During Tuesday's commission meeting, the city presented the 28-year-old Pompano Beach native with an honorary key to the city to thank him for his generosity. Over the years, Kodak, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, has donated air conditioning units to local families, distributed turkeys during the holidays, provided Christmas gifts and bicycles to children, and twice paid rent for more than 200 struggling families.

"This recognition is not about celebrity," Mayor Rex Hardin said in a press release about the honor. "It's about heart. Kodak Black has consistently and quietly extended a hand to lift up others in our community, and today we want to shine a light on those efforts and say thank you from the entire city."

Kodak appears to be on a path of self-reflection following his numerous run-ins with the law, which date back to 2015, when he was an 18-year-old aspiring rapper.

In June, the rapper and father of five children hosted a "Father's Day Jeep Tailgate" at his alma mater, Blanche Ely High School, for South Florida dads and their children. Last November, he was set to host his third annual Kodak Black Day to honor local veterans before it was abruptly cancelled over permitting issues.

In August, Kodak visited a youth football team to warn them about the dangers of drugs. "Say no to drugs," he said with a bottle in his right hand and a blunt behind his ear. "They too good. Y'all gon' like 'em and go crazy."

On his last full day of office in 2021, President Donald Trump commuted Kodak's prison sentence on federal weapons charges from 2019 after he provided false information on a background check form during a gun purchase in Hialeah. A White House press release pointed to Kodak's philanthropic and charitable efforts as justification for the pardon.

Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Kodak released a pro-Trump song with fellow rapper Fivio Foreign. The three-minute track featured clips from Trump's speeches on the campaign trail.

Naomi Feinstein is a staff writer of Miami New Times where she primarily focuses on news. Naomi started her career with New Times as a summer intern in 2019, then returned as a fellow in August 2022 before joining the staff full-time in February 2023. She graduated from University of Miami where she contributed to the student-run newspaper, the Miami Hurricane. She holds a master’s degree and graduated with honors from the Columbia School of Journalism. In 2021, Naomi was recognized as the College Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists of Florida, and she placed second for Best General News Story in the 2021 Pinnacle Awards.

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