Kingpin is a rapper, also known as Gold Loc Da Kingpen and Kingpin, from California. The name is also used by several unrelated music acts, including a Swedish glam metal band and a number of punk and hardcore groups.

Music projects associated with the name

In Swedish glam metal, Kingpin is the original name of Shotgun Messiah. Under that name, the band records one album in 1988, Welcome To Bop City, which is later re-recorded and issued a year later as Shotgun Messiah’s self-titled debut.

Kingpin is also the name of a hardcore band from Boston active in the early 1990s. That group releases one 7-inch on Suburban Voice Records, the label run by Boston punk figure Al Quint. It also appears on a Suburban Voice compilation that is included with the fanzine of the same name. The band records four further songs that are not officially released at the time, although MP3s of them circulate in the hardcore scene. Those recordings later receive a formal 7-inch release on Atomic Action Records in 2018. The band reunites in 2025 to play in its hometown and makes its catalogue available to stream at kingpinbhc.bandcamp.com.

Other acts using the name include a punk rock band from Maracaibo, Venezuela, active since 2000; a hardcore band from Odessa, Ukraine, influenced by New York hardcore and especially Leeway; and a crossover thrash band from Glasgow, Scotland.