Krept & Konan

The South London rap duo Krept & Konan became superstars in the 2010s with four Top 10 albums on the UK charts. • Casyo “Krept” Johnson and Karl “Konan” Wilson grew up in a hardscrabble section of Croydon, South London. Konan is the son of reggae great Delroy Wilson. The pair met and became friends in 2005 when their schools played against each other in football. • Before they began taking music seriously in 2009, Krept earned a degree in accountancy from Portsmouth University. Konan served a year for robbery in 2007. • The duo released their debut mixtape, Redrum Volume 1, in 2009, followed by Tsunami in 2010. • Their viral 2011 cover of JAY-Z and Kanye West’s “Otis” reached five million views in five days. They were pressured to remove it by JAY-Z’s legal team. • Their third mixtape, 2013’s Young Kingz, reached No. 19 on the UK charts, setting a Guinness World Record for the highest-charting UK album by an unsigned artist. The popular single “Don’t Waste My Time” inspired numerous remixes, including one featuring French Montana, Fekky, Chip, Chinx and Wretch 32. Krept & Konan won Best UK Newcomer at the 2013 MOBO Awards. • In 2015, they released their debut album, The Long Way Home. The LP’s lead single, “Freak of the Week”, featuring Jeremih, reached No. 9 on the UK charts—the group’s highest placement to date. • Krept & Konan set another record in 2017, when ‘7 Days’ and ‘7 Nights’ made them the first act to have two mixtapes debut inside the Top 10 of the UK albums charts. • Their 2019 album Revenge Is Sweet became their fourth Top 10 UK album.