Dayvon Daquan Bennett (August 9, 1994 – November 6, 2020), known professionally as King Von, was an American rapper and street gangster from Chicago, Illinois. He was affiliated with the Black Disciples gang of South Side, Chicago, and was an exemplary figure of drill music, a subcategory of hip-hop originating from the area.
Bennett gained recognition for his storytelling and vivid lyricism, noted by critics on his 2018 single "Crazy Story". Prior to its release, he signed with fellow Chicagoan Lil Durk's label Only the Family, through which he released his debut mixtape Grandson, Vol. 1 (2019), and its follow-up Levon James (2020), both of which moderately entered the Billboard 200 as independent releases. "Crazy Story", along with his 2020 single "Took Her to the O", received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The latter became his first solo Billboard Hot 100 entry and preceded his debut studio album, Welcome to O'Block (2020), which peaked at number five on the Billboard 200.
On November 6, 2020, Bennett was fatally shot in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 26, following an altercation outside a hookah lounge. His second album and first posthumous release, What It Means to Be King (2022), debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, as did his third album and final posthumous release, Grandson (2023).
Dayvon Daquan Bennett was born on August 9, 1994, in Chicago, Illinois. He had six half-siblings from his father, Walter E. Bennett, and three siblings from his mother, Taesha. He was raised mostly by his mother in the Parkway Garden Homes, an area more commonly known as "O'Block", located on Chicago's South Side within the Greater Grand Crossing community area. His relationship with his father was inconsistent due to his father's incarcerations. When Von was 10 years old, his father was killed by an unseen gunman. Von later paid tribute to his father in multiple songs.
Bennett was present for the birth of drill music through his association with Chief Keef and Lil Durk. However, he was frequently incarcerated throughout the 2010s for a multitude of serious criminal charges, which made him known in Chicago's drill scene even before he began recording music. At age 16, Bennett went to juvenile detention for armed robbery in January 2011. While incarcerated, Bennett earned his GED. After being released, Bennett attended a few classes at South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois, before dropping out. In July 2014, Bennett was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with a shooting that killed one and injured two others. After being detained in the Cook County jail for over three years, he was acquitted in December 2017 and began his musical career.
2017–2019: Career beginnings and Grandson, Vol. 1
Upon Von's release from jail in December 2017, fellow rapper Lil Durk signed Von to Durk's Only the Family label. Von then released a series of singles. The first of these singles was "Beat Dat Body", which featured fellow late Chicago rapper THF Zoo, and was released on June 17, 2018. Von subsequently appeared on the Lil Durk Presents: Only The Family Involved album, which was released on July 31. He featured on the song "Problems", which had an accompanying music video released on August 9. Von then released the single "War With Us" on October 18. Von's single "Crazy Story" was released on December 6. It became his breakout single, notable for his narration of an attempted robbery in his hometown in Chicago, and reaching number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On January 9, 2019, Von was featured on the remix of "Exposing Me", a song by fellow Chicago rapper Memo600. Von and Memo600 swapped bars disrespecting and detailing real life feuds and altercations against other nearby neighborhood rivals. A response from the targets arose when rappers FBG Duck and Rooga dropped their own remix of the song on February 4. Both songs were produced off the sampling of original Indian song Sanam Re. Following the success, a series of remixes for the song were made by other artists both in the United States and in Europe. On February 14, Von's then-girlfriend, rapper Asian Doll, released a music video for her track about him, "Grandson", in which he appeared. On May 3, "Crazy Story 2.0" featuring Lil Durk was released, and a music video was later released seventeen days later; the song peaked at number four on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Its third and final rendition of the single followed on September 13.
On July 9, 2019, Lil Durk and King Von released their collaborative single "Like That". On September 2, Von released his single "What It's Like", as the single forerunner of his first mixtape album announced in September. The mixtape later released on September 19 under the title, Grandson, Vol. 1, consisting of thirteen tracks and being executively produced by Chopsquad DJ. It contains three features represented by "Twin Nem" and by the remix of "Crazy Story", both featuring Durk; the other feature consists on the collaboration with Chicago artist and OTF affiliate Booka600 on "Jet". The mixtape also includes tracks "Crazy Story", "Crazy Story, Pt. 3", and his second ever single "War With Us" dating back to October 18, 2018. Grandson, Vol. 1 debuted at number 75 and later peaking at number 53, on the Billboard 200, also it reached number 27 on the Hip Hop/R&B albums chart, and number 9 on the Independent Albums chart.
2020: Levon James and Welcome to O'Block
On November 16, 2019, Von released his single "2 A.M." followed by a corresponding video to be released the same day. On November 29, 2019, Von released his single "Rollin" featuring YNW Melly, accompanied with a music video. He later released, on February 21, 2020, "Took Her to the O", with a music video, which became his most successful single. "Took Her to the O" and "Rollin" were later included on his second mixtape, Levon James, that was released on March 6, 2020, which debuted at number 63 and later peaking at number 40 on the Billboard 200. It was released through Only the Family Entertainment/Empire and consists in a 16-track mixtape executively produced by Chopsquad DJ, featuring verses from NLE Choppa, Tee Grizzley, G Herbo, Lil Durk, YNW Melly, Booka600 and Yungeen Ace.
An official video for "On Yo Ass" was released on March 6, 2020, coinciding with the album release date. The song features Chicago artist G Herbo, with production from Chopsquad DJ. On March 20, 2020, an official video for "Trust Issues" was released, featuring Florida rapper Yungeen Ace; in the song Von switched up his gangsta focus to show his softer side. On April 6, 2020, Bennett releases an official music video for 3 A.M. on YouTube, following on April 29, 2020, the release of his single "Grandson For President" that later was incorporated as a single for What It Means to Be King album. He followed the single up closely with a music video release for "Broke Opps", another song from his Levon James album.
In 2020, King Von began work on Welcome to O'Block, which would ultimately be released as his debut studio album and remains the only one issued during his lifetime. He first released the album's lead single, "Why He Told" on July 27, 2020, accompanied by a music video published on his YouTube channel. This was followed by the single "All These Niggas" on August 5, 2020, featuring Chicago rapper Lil Durk; due to legal reasons, Durk was unable to appear in the accompanying video, which was released the same day and garnered 24 million views within two months on the platform. He then released another single, titled "How It Go", in conjunction with another music video, on August 26, 2020.
On October 9, 2020, King Von released "I Am What I Am", featuring New York rapper Fivio Foreign, along with a music video. Two weeks later Bennett released "Gleesh Place" in combination with another music video on his official channel. This release was in anticipation of the official release of Welcome to O'Block that came out on October 30, 2020. The 16-track album features production Chopsquad DJ, Tay Keith, Wheezy and Hitmaka, among others; it also features artists Prince Dre, Lil Durk, Dreezy, Moneybagg Yo. The album includes the Polo G collaboration "The Code", which was released with a music video. The project peaked at number 5 on Billboard for US Top 200 albums, number 1 for Top R&B/Hip Hop albums, number 1 for Top Independents album and peaked 12th for Top 100 Canadian albums.