Arts & Entertainment
Chicago Rapper Adamn Killa on His Social Media Success, Fans and Career
Adam Kelly, better known as rapper Adamn Killa, has garnered a lot of attention for his often viral social media presence.
Some of his recent videos show him walking up to police officers and National Guard troops and taunting them, saying “arrest me, daddy.” The trend landed him in hot water earlier this month when a Chicago police officer detained Kelly for obstruction of justice, though charges were never filed.
Early Career
New fans may be surprised to find that Kelly has been making music for 15 years. His early career influences included the likes of Lil Wayne and Cam’ron.
Although he started making music just “for fun,” Kelly found success early in his career with his 2014 single “#PhaseMe.” The song went viral on the former social media platform Vine, awakening Kelly to the possibility of music as a viable career path.
The song was released while he was still enrolled at Kenwood Academy High School during a different social media landscape.
“You know like viral back then, it wasn’t as big as it is now,” Kelly said. “Like, I feel like the internet’s way bigger now. It’s easier to go viral right now and I feel like trends are bigger now, because like, TikTok and Instagram ... and everything is like, you know, bigger now.”
Kelly moved to Los Angeles to continue making music.
In 2016, he released his mixtape “Back 2 Ballin,” which was his largest project at the time. The mixtape was released while he was on tour with Swedish rapper Yung Lean. Kelly followed up with a variety of singles along with “Back 2 Ballin 2,” released in 2018.
Kelly said he received a full ride to play baseball for Illinois Central College but ultimately chose to pursue music.
He moved back to Chicago and in 2021 released another single, “Cheerio,” featuring artist Lil Uzi Vert. After a brief stint back in LA, where he drove for Uber, Kelly returned to Chicago in 2023.
Kelly remained consistent on social media throughout that time, with his posts hitting 600 views on the low end and up to 4,000 on the high end. Engagement on his videos really started to spike in 2025 when he changed his approach.
The Fall On
Kelly began posting 20 videos a day on his social media platforms, meticulously analyzing what performed well. He soon began to blow up on social media, reaching a wider audience.
Though Kelly’s reach is larger now, he said his early years in music have “paid off.”
“Because now I got, like, the foundation, ... now people are finding out about me, now they got 15 years’ worth of music they could go listen to,” Kelly said. “While they waiting for me to put out even newer stuff, they could listen to my whole discography.”
Kelly said new fans can understand how deep his music goes by seeing the eras of his career.
“Versus somebody who just, like, you know, blew up off TikTok, and they (the audience) don’t really know nothing about them,“ Kelly said. “So it gives a little more like, a story to read into.”
Kelly said part of connecting with fans is being vulnerable while sharing his full story, including his early success, struggles navigating the industry and celebrating the spot he is in now.
‘This Is for You’
Many of Kelly’s new audiences have found themselves drawn to one of several different types of videos that he shares.
For some it may have been the series showing him call out people of different identities, races, gender expressions, religions and sexualities before saying “this is for you” followed by his now iconic dance where he spins his hands above his head.
That same dance has gone viral with multiple people replicating the choreography, including Benny the Bull who was seen doing it during a Bulls Game.
“It’s for everybody. ... It’s inclusive, so if you Black, I got one for you, Puerto Rican, Mexican, like it don’t matter what you are — I got one for you,” Kelly said. “Even like Kurdish, like even smaller demographics of people. I got one — it’s like everyone’s included that’s why it’s so crazy and diverse.”
With that specificity, he hopes he can give back to the people who spend their time listening to his music.
“If back when I was a kid, and I was such a big fan of Lil Wayne, and Lil Wayne, like responded to me or said something I thought was about me, like, I know how happy that would have made me feel,” Kelly said.
Others may have been drawn to Kelly’s “arrest me, daddy” videos that depict him walking up to police officers or National Guard troops before putting his arms behind his back and shouting “arrest me, daddy.”
Regardless of where people may have found him, Kelly said there’s a deeply personal and cult-like — “in a good way” — relationship between him and his fans. He pointed to a recent LA show that was canceled due to conflicts over ticketing. Kelly spent his own money to fly to LA and perform regardless.
He said the crowd grew to 2,000-3,000 people outside a venue that was only built for a capacity of 350.
When asked whether the large crowds made him nervous, he said he doesn’t worry too much about it.
“I feel like I got the best fanbase to be honest,” Kelly said.
On Using His Platform
Many have seen Kelly’s “arrest me, daddy” videos as a form of protest, while others see it as a joke. (Several of the videos show him making both police officers and National Guard troops chuckle.)
For Kelly, it’s somewhere in the middle.
“It’s both, because I started when I seen the police officer, and he’s like really mad with his hand on his gun — and I just did it, like my friend was recording, and I just was like, ‘Ooh, arrest me daddy,’” Kelly said. “And, like, I did it to be funny because he was like so stern and then it went viral, because he started laughing. The cops started laughing. And so it just made everything less tense, and then posting it, went viral, and then — I just kept doing it.”
While filming one of his videos downtown earlier this month, Kelly interrupted a traffic stop. He was handcuffed and held in the back of a police car for nearly 20 minutes before he was released without charges.
Kelly said there was a brief argument between him and Chicago police officers, who initially claimed he threw his arms at an officer. Kelly insisted there’s video footage depicting him with his arms behind his back in his signature “arrest me, daddy” pose.
Kelly has also been outspoken against immigration enforcement in Chicago, reposting a video of his stepmother who encountered ICE agents during a checkpoint they set up at O’Hare to target Uber drivers.
Kelly compared ICE agents to Nazis, saying their actions are “just about them being racist and not wanting people here. So I don’t agree with none of that.”
What’s Next?
Aside from running into Kelly on the streets of Chicago, fans of Adamn Killa can also see him in person at his show in Aurora on Nov. 29 and his show at Reggie’s Chicago on Dec. 5.
