Have you ever wondered what it feels like to grow up as a famous rapper’s son before the fame even began? Jakobi Wilburn knows that feeling well. He is the oldest child of hip hop star Future, and his life carries both a famous last name and a story that is fully his own.
He is best known today as the rapper King Kobi, a young artist working to build a name that stands apart from his father’s. But before the music, there was a harder chapter, one filled with a child support case, a paternity test in court, and a run in with the law that made national news.
So how did a boy raised mostly by his mother grow into an artist his own father now backs in the studio? Let’s walk through the full and honest story of Jakobi Wilburn.
Profile Overview
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Jakobi Wilburn |
| Stage Name | King Kobi |
| Date of Birth | June 30, 2002 |
| Age (2026) | 24 years old |
| Birthplace | Reported as both Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia (sources differ) |
| Father | Future (Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn) |
| Mother | Jessica Smith |
| Siblings | Several half siblings, including Londyn, Prince, Future Zahir, Hendrix, Reign, Kash, and Paris |
| Profession | Rapper, songwriter, social media influencer |
| Debut Album | Kobi$Torm (2021) |
| Second Album | 444 Degrees (2022) |
| Fashion Work | Fashion Nova ambassador |
| Education | Columbia High School |
| Nationality | American |
Who Is Jakobi Wilburn?
Jakobi Wilburn, known by his stage name King Kobi, is an American rapper and the oldest son of rap star Future. He was born on June 30, 2002, and has built his own music career while carrying one of hip hop’s most famous last names.
His mother is Jessica Smith, and she and Future parted ways not long after Jakobi was born. Because of this early split, Jakobi spent most of his childhood in his mother’s care rather than growing up beside his father.
Unlike many kids of famous parents who simply lean on the family name, Jakobi chose to write and record his own songs. His music leans into personal pain, family struggle, and growth instead of copying his father’s sound.
Today, he stands as far more than a small part of his father’s story. He is a working artist with his own songs, his own fashion deals, and a past that shaped who he is now.
Early Life and a Rocky Start With His Father
He early years were shaped more by distance than closeness with his famous father. Future and Jessica Smith were both very young when Jakobi was born, with Future becoming a dad at only nineteen. Their relationship ended soon after, leaving Smith to raise their son mostly on her own.
The bond between Future and Jakobi did not start out easy. In 2013, Smith took Future to court, saying he had hidden part of his income to pay less child support. As part of that case, a paternity test came back with a 99.9 percent match, proving Future was Jakobi’s father and leading to a set child support plan.
The legal issues did not stop there. In 2016, Smith went back to court a second time. She argued that Future’s income had grown a lot since the first ruling, so the payment amount was too low. She also said Jakobi was facing emotional and behavior struggles that she linked to times his father was absent. Reported payment amounts differ across sources, with some naming a figure near sixteen hundred dollars a month and others closer to twenty eight hundred, a gap that likely comes from these two separate court dates rather than one fixed number.
Even with this hard start, Jakobi has talked about his childhood in a calm and honest way. In a 2022 interview with The Progress Report, he said his early life felt fairly normal, full of school, bike rides, park trips, and movies, much like any other kid before people began to notice whose son he was.
Where Jakobi Wilburn Grew Up and Went to School
Reports do not fully agree on where Jakobi Wilburn spent his early years. Some sources say he was born in Los Angeles, California, while others point to Atlanta, Georgia. Since there is no single confirmed answer, it is fair to say his upbringing touched both cities at different times.
He went to Columbia High School, spending much of his teen years away from public attention even as his father grew more famous. Growing up near two major hubs of American hip hop gave him early exposure to the same culture that shaped Future’s own rise, long before Jakobi picked up a pen to write his own songs.
As he got older, Jakobi noticed people treating him differently once they learned his father’s name. He has said his daily life did not feel very different at first, but that shift became clearer as his father’s fame grew louder around him.
This mix of a normal school life and an unusual family name became the backdrop for everything that came next, both the hard times and the music that later grew out of them.
The 2020 Arrest That Made National Headlines
In January 2020, when Jakobi Wilburn was just 17, he was arrested in Newton County, Georgia. He faced several serious charges, including altering the ID mark on a firearm, criminal gang activity, trespassing, and giving false information to police.
Because Georgia law treats seventeen year olds as adults in criminal cases, Jakobi faced trial as an adult instead of a juvenile. Court papers reportedly showed he listed himself as needing a public defender, but both of his parents worked together to get him private lawyers instead.
His mother, Jessica Smith, spoke about the case at the time, asking for privacy while the family worked through it. The gun related charge was later dropped by a judge, though the case drew wide attention from entertainment news outlets because of his tie to Future.
This chapter of his life was painful and very public, but it also became a turning point. Instead of letting the arrest define his future, Jakobi began putting more time into something he had quietly loved for years, making his own music.
How King Kobi Was Born
After the legal trouble of his teen years, Jakobi began taking music seriously under the name King Kobi. He has said his father was not fully sure this path was real at first, worried that Jakobi only wanted to rap because it was the family trade rather than something he truly wanted for himself.
To show he was serious, Jakobi began spending long hours in the studio, often staying longer than his father did on his visits. That steady work changed Future’s mind and won his full support, with Jakobi later saying his father took notice once he saw hundreds of songs piling up.
In April 2021, Jakobi released his debut album, Kobi$Torm, a twelve track project that marked the true start of his music career. He followed it in August 2022 with a second album called 444 Degrees, a seven song project that showed real growth in his writing and his confidence as an artist.
His sound draws from artists he has named as his own influences, including XXXTentacion, Frank Ocean, and Pharrell. That mix shows up clearly in his music, which blends trap beats with emotional, melody driven writing rather than simply copying his father’s style.
Inside His Growing Music Catalog
Since his first two albums, King Kobi has kept releasing new songs at a steady pace. His singles include Pink Lemonade, Bricc, Bad Reception, Outside, In Due Time, Cold Cuts, and 40 Floors Up, the last of which features the group Homixide Gang.
- His songs are available on major platforms like SoundCloud and Apple Music
- His YouTube channel has built up strong views across his music videos
- He has worked with other artists, including Ken Car$on and Lil Cozy
- Industry tracking sites have listed him among a strong group of rising songwriters heading into 2026
His songwriting often returns to personal pain, family strain, and the weight of a well known last name. Fans have connected with this honesty, since the songs feel real rather than made just for attention.
Beyond his two albums, Jakobi has built writing and vocal credits across dozens of other tracks, working with a small, steady group of engineers and collaborators. This steady output shows an artist treating music as a long career, not just a passing interest.
Beyond Music: Fashion Nova and His Public Life
Jakobi Wilburn’s public life goes beyond his songs. He works as a brand ambassador for Fashion Nova, a major streetwear label, often showing up in posts and campaigns that highlight the brand’s newest styles.
This partnership has helped him build fans outside of music alone. Standing five feet nine inches tall, Jakobi has become a familiar face in streetwear content, mixing his rap career with a growing spot in fashion and social media.
Social media plays a big part in how fans follow his journey. He shares updates about new music, fashion work, and small pieces of daily life, giving followers a closer look at who he is beyond simply being Future’s son.
In October 2020, Jakobi drew attention online after sharing a post from Braylon Howard, the son of NBA player Dwight Howard, in which the younger Howard openly criticized his own father’s parenting. Jakobi did not add any words of his own, and the share led fans to wonder if there was tension between him and Future at the time, though neither side spoke about it directly.
His Bond With His Father Future
The bond between Jakobi and his father has not always been close, shaped early on by distance and legal fights over child support. But that bond has clearly grown stronger as both men have gotten older.
Future was not fully convinced at first when Jakobi said he wanted to make music, wondering if his son truly wanted his own career or was just copying him. Jakobi’s steady studio work slowly changed that view, with Future later telling him he could see how badly he wanted it once the songs kept stacking up.
Rapper Young Buck has claimed the two once shared a jail cell during Jakobi’s legal troubles, a detail that has spread through hip hop news but has never been explained in full by either side. Future also gave fans a rare look into his large family through his 2019 Apple Music documentary, The WIZRD, which touched on the challenge of raising kids across different relationships.
In recent years, the two have shown up together in public more often, a clear change from Jakobi’s earlier years, when his father’s fame felt more far off than personal. Their story is a quiet reminder that even hard family history can heal with time and steady effort.
Jakobi Wilburn’s Large Family of Siblings
As Future’s oldest child, Jakobi is part of a big and spread out family. Future’s other known children include Londyn Wilburn, born in 2009 to India J., Prince Wilburn, born in 2013 to Brittni Mealy, Future Zahir Wilburn, born in 2014 to Ciara, Hendrix Wilburn, born in 2018 to Joie Chavis, and Reign Wilburn, born in 2019 to Eliza Reign, along with Kash and Paris Wilburn.
Being the oldest among so many siblings gave Jakobi a place in the family that none of the others share. He lived through his father’s early career struggles in a way his younger siblings never did, since Future’s fame grew fast after Jakobi’s own early childhood had already passed.
Public details about most of his siblings stay limited, since many of them are still kids living quiet lives away from media eyes. Jakobi, being older and building a public career of his own, remains the most visible of Future’s children by far.
This wide family has often made headlines on its own, yet Jakobi’s own path as King Kobi has helped him stand out instead of being lumped in with his siblings in passing mentions.
Jakobi Wilburn’s Life Today
As of 2026, Jakobi Wilburn is in his mid twenties and still focused on his music career while keeping up his fashion work. He has not shared public details about dating anyone, and that part of his life stays private by choice.
He keeps putting out new music, with fresh tracks showing up on streaming platforms well into 2026. Industry credit tracking has placed him among a growing group of songwriters worth watching, a sign that his years of steady studio work are paying off.
His estimated net worth has been reported near $500,000, though this number comes from unofficial online guesses rather than any confirmed record, so it should be treated as a rough estimate and not a fact.
Jakobi appears to be staying away from the kind of trouble that marked his teen years. His focus now seems to sit on steady growth rather than chasing quick attention, a real change from the hard uncertainty around his 2020 arrest.
Final Thoughts
Jakobi Wilburn’s story is far deeper than a simple headline about being a famous rapper’s son. He faced real hardship growing up, from a contested paternity case to a serious legal fight as a teenager, and still found a way to turn that struggle into music that feels honest.
His journey shows that a hard beginning does not have to decide how the rest of the story goes. Through steady work in the studio and a growing role in fashion, Jakobi has slowly built an identity that belongs fully to him.
His bond with his father, once strained by distance and court disputes, has grown closer with time. That change is a quiet reminder that relationships can heal, even after painful and very public chapters.
In the end, He shows that a person can carry a famous name and still write his own story. As King Kobi, he keeps proving that real growth often comes from turning hardship into purpose.
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