Brian Todd Collins (born April 1, 1986), best known by his stage name Kid Ink is an American rapper, singer, and record producer from Los Angeles, California. Collins released his debut independent album Up & Away in 2012, following an EP titled Almost Home, and his first major studio album, My Own Lane in 2014. The latter spawned the singles "Show Me", "Iz U Down", and "Main Chick" featuring Chris Brown. On February 3, 2015, he released his third studio album Full Speed, which spawned the singles "Body Language", "Hotel", and "Be Real" featuring Dej Loaf. On December 25, 2015, he released a surprise commercial mixtape Summer in the Winter with the supporting single "Promise" featuring Fetty Wap. Kid Ink has also released "RSS2" (a mixtape) in 2016, and EP 7 Series with leading single "F with U" in 2017.
During his teenage years, Brian Todd Collins attended after-school music programs, where he produced hip-hop beats and tracks. He cites Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and Swizz Beatz as part of his inspiration for its work ethic with the production and songwriting, when he said: "These were artists and producers who were writing for other people in all types of genres. It just gave me an open ear for all different types of music and that's how I approached it". At 22, Collins began rapping full-time. In 2009, Collins adopted the moniker Rockstar. On February 1, 2010, Collins released his first official mixtape, titled World Tour. The mixtape gained popularity that grabbed some of the attention towards a radio disc jockey, DJ Ill Will, founder of HotNewHipHop. Collins signed to DJ Ill Will's Tha Alumni Group label. Collins changed his stage name to Kid Ink.