Kodak Black started rapping in elementary school and began to go to a local trap house after school to record music.[11] He spent his youth reading thesauruses and dictionaries to further his vocabulary.[12] Kodak Black frequently participated in brawls and breaking and entering with his friends.[3] He was expelled from school in the fifth grade for fighting and was arrested for auto theft while in middle school.[13] About his upbringing, he said that he was given two options: "sell drugs with a gun on his hip or rap".[14]