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Exactly one rap star has an Instagram account wholly devoted to affectionate, intimate, cute pictures of his child: Chief Keef. This is the same Chief Keef who had another of his Instagram accounts suspended in September for posting a photo of himself receiving oral sex. The same person who spent a significant portion of 2012 under house arrest in connection with gun charges. The same one whose music is in part a catalog of gang-related boasts and threats. Chief Keef is 17, and appears happy for the most part to be seen as a problem child.
There’s plenty that’s troubling, and troubled, too about his major-label debut album, “Finally Rich” (Glory Boyz/Interscope), which was released this week. Like the mixtapes that preceded, it’s relentlessly dark and sometimes lifeless, at least in the lyrics. It is also, thanks to Young Chop, who produced about half of it, exuberant and pugnacious, a stress reliever of an album.
Surprisingly, “Finally Rich” is an album that at least doesn’t ignore fatherhood. “Got Them Bands,” a bonus track, is the most direct. “My daughter’s heaven sent/She rock Gucci, Louis,” Chief Keef raps. “She be flexin’ like a bitch/She know papa got that cash/She know papa hella rich.”
At least four other songs mention his daughter, whose nickname is Kay Kay, and that doesn’t count the song called “Kay Kay,” which is as coldhearted as anything here — “Tats all on my body/Don’t make me catch a body” — while only obliquely referring to her.
Chief Keef might not be much of a rapper — he’s clunky, monochromatic and sometimes outright awful — but he’s careful. These mentions are the only indication of heart on this album, which barely rewards close listening. Typically his rhymes don’t get more inventive than “Hit him with that Cobra/Now that boy slumped over.” But his grip on youthful abandon is compelling — he makes menace sound fun. He’s an inheritor of several generations of Chicago gangster rap, and also of the drill music that’s saturated the city in the last three years. But he’s also a child of Internet-driven cults of personality like Soulja Boy and Lil B, young rappers whose most meaningful fan interactions happened outside the label system. Whatever demand there is for Chief Keef he generated it on his own, with his mixtapes, straight-to-YouTube videos and local hero status.
Continue reading the main storyLike those progenitors, Chief Keef has a narrow palette, a rigorous commitment to it and a reluctance — or inability — to change. “Finally Rich” has a couple of moments that suggest forward movement, though. “Love Sosa” and “Hate Bein’ Sober” have insistent melodies that are brighter than anything he made on his own. The decidedly weird “Laughin’ to the Bank,” with its ghoulish laughs — “I’m laughing to the bank like ha ha ha, I’m laughing at these lames like ha ha ha” — could have been a Dr. Demento favorite. And the three bonus tracks are among the most adventurous on the album, with his vocals on two of them buried in digital processing that recalls the recent genre-melting work of Future. But mostly the turf is familiar, and often disturbing. Even though he’s a success, the Chicago that Chief Keef grew up in is still with him. On “Diamonds,” Chief Keef appears to taunt the gang claimed by Lil JoJo, an aspiring Chicago rapper who was murdered in September, and whom Chief Keef taunted on Twitter after the killing (though he later claimed his account had been hacked).
As a title, “Finally Rich” has the sound of a fait accompli, but Chief Keef is anything but. He’s still a small fry in the hip-hop economy. And compared to the rest of the hip-hop mainstream, Chief Keef’s music is stark and raw, something that is made even clearer by the handful of outside guests who appear on this album looking for some refracted credibility: 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, Young Jeezy, French Montana. They all sound polished to a tee. And they barely leave a stain. It’s not hard to imagine Chief Keef and his crew rolling their eyes at the old guys.
Certainly the fact that less than a year ago, Chief Keef was filming videos in his grandmother’s house, where he was under arrest, is remarkable. But there’s little about his rise on “Finally Rich” apart from the steady references to newfound wealth. You learn more about what Chief Keef has seen in the last nine months from the liner notes than from the music: the list of guests, the use of Interscope Studios in Santa Monica for recording much of the material.
You also have to return to Instagram to spy on his growth. On his various accounts there are frequent shots of stacks of money, and of expensive purchases. Though he hates being interviewed, he’s happy to preen for the cameras, showing off this designer outfit or that luxury sports car. He is, after all, just a kid.
As a whole, he comes off as someone who, major label record deal notwithstanding, has seen little of the world. His album is preoccupied with old beefs and old feelings. On most songs he shouts out members of his crew — the people who’ve been alongside him for years, not the new people clamoring for his attention.
And then there’s his daughter. He recently posted on Twitter photos of child-support documents that he appeared pleased with. He also posted a video of shopping at Target for gifts for her first birthday. He may have a narrow worldview, but that’s a fate that, because of her father, Kay Kay might be able to avoid.
Part 1. Chief Keef
This is a two-part story of Chief Keef and his iconic album, Finally Rich. Part one is a biography of the man behind the music and his personal life. Part two is an in-depth breakdown of Finally Rich and its influence on the rap industry.
To note: Chief Keef goes by many names. Keef, Sosa, Chief Sosa, his real name Keith Cozart, Otto, Turbo, King Glo, Almighty, and others, may be used in reference to him. If there is ever confusion as to who is being addressed it is more than likely Almighty King Glo Chief Sosa.
Outside of LAX on a sunny afternoon, Chief Keef is hounded by a TMZ reporter. He is donning a Gucci windbreaker enveloped in the brand’s signature snake design, a 2017 piece that retailed for $1,300. Alongside him are two members of the GBE label, including his very vocal older cousin, Tadoe. The reporter is inquiring upon a shooting aimed at Chief Keef and his affiliates which took place the day before in New York, and although Keef retains a calm demeanor, saying, “we don’t have scary situations”, his family member seems to still be heated and ready to retaliate.
This short interaction was only a glimpse of a much larger story that held the media’s attention for months until end, but while this may have been a fresh sight for the news, designer clothes and death threats have long been common themes in this rap legend’s life.
The Genesis of Sosa
Born in Chicago in 1995, Chief Keef (real name Keith Cozart) had to grow up quick. With a 16 year old mother and estranged father, Keef’s grandmother became his legal guardian in the crime-ridden streets of Chicago’s “O-Block”, commonly regarded as the city’s most dangerous area. For entertainment, Cozart turned to music at an early age. At five years old while most children are busy playing Simon Says and Duck, Duck, Goose, Chief Keef had picked up his grandmother’s karaoke box with a natural knack for singing along. By eight he had begun rapping, even leading his own collective named “TD” for Total Domination. At 12 years old Keef began recording songs of his own, and after meeting musical companion DJ Kenn his career began to truly sprout.
A Japanese native with dreams of producing music in America, DJ Kenn met Chief Keef’s uncle while walking down the street of their neighborhood. This relationship would prove to be fruitful for all parties involved, but few stories that begin in Chicago’s South Side come without a blemish. In this case, legal issues were the stain on Sosa’s record.
Trouble with the ops
Now 15 years old, Chief Keef was set to become a Chicago rap sensation and father within 12 months. Had he known this at the time he may have acted differently. Maybe. In January of 2011 Cozart was arrested for the manufacturing and distribution of heroin, receiving a juvenile sentence of house arrest. While serving his sentence, he found himself elevated to local stardom with his “Bang” mixtape. Following his new-found fame Cozart was again detained before the year’s end. While leaving his grandmother’s house a police officer approached and questioned him, to which Chief Keef responded by brandishing a firearm. Shots rang out in the Washington Park neighborhood, flying past a running Cozart while missing their target. The teenager was detained and once again found himself facing criminal punishments.
Conflicts with police have integrated themselves into Chief Keef’s career, with multiple additional arrests happening from 2011-2013 for disorderly conduct, probation violations, and pushing 110 mph in a 55 mph zone behind the wheel of his BMW X6 M. For this last infraction Sosa didn’t even have a driver’s license, and was 17 years old.
Sosa finishes high school
In 2011, the average graduation percentage of African-American males in Chicago was 51%. Although Chief Keef does not fall into this majority, he falls into an even more impressive and smaller minority. Dropping out at 15, becoming a father at 16, and having a Billboard 100 single with “Love Sosa” at 17, he had already become a part of the 10% of artists in the world who become “discovered”. With well received mixtapes “The Glory Road” and “Bang” under his belt, Sosa released his original “I Don’t Like” cut with O-block companion Lil Reese. A heavy-hitting mixture of bells and bass courtesy of Young Chop, the beat provides a perfect outlet for Keef to list off specific characteristics, attributes, and personas which do not fall under his favor. Although the track may have insinuated negative opinions of certain matters, it became an integral part in paving the way for what our protagonist would like.
The Glo Up
One year after dropping out of high school, being placed on house arrest, and dropping his second mixtape, Chief Keef was a household name spreading across the United States. Following the immediate success of “I Don’t Like”, fellow Chicago rapper Kanye West took notice, remixing the posthumous single with other G.O.O.D. Music label artists 2 Chainz, Big Sean, and Pusha T (Jadakiss was also involved but it is unknown how he remains relevant in rap). The skyrocketing Sosa had no end in sight, adding a $6 million record deal with Interscope, performances at both Lollapalooza and the Pitchfork Music Festival, and the release of his debut album Finally Rich.
Rainbows and butterflies are hardly seen on the South side of Chicago, though, and as the budding star received praise from more of the country than ever, there were equally powerful criticisms back home. Several taunts had come from Keef’s twitter account when news about the shooting of rival Chicago rapper Lil Jojo had broken out. Sosa claimed his account was hacked, but this was not enough to prevent police from opening an investigation on the rapper. Although he was never formally charged for any crimes in this matter, the suspicion of his involvement and violence filled lyrics have helped create a lingering split between support and resentment in Chicago.
Finally Rich
Multiple arrests, a fascination with designer, paintball, billboard-charting hits, drugs, a clothing brand and gaming organization, luxury cars, guns, and indiscernible lyrics are all applicable when speaking of Chief Keef. Due to his reluctance for conducting interviews, it is difficult to find much about the anomalistic Chicago artist that lies beneath the surface. Currently there are 34 albums on Spotify to his seemingly endless collection, including the 2012 standout album Finally Rich. Since its release this album has gone certified gold in sales, but after digging through the flows, rhythms, approaches, and tone of the album, it is not difficult to understand why it is considered the gold standard by many. For more on Chief Keef and his legacy, you can find an in-depth analysis of his rap-changing debut album Finally Rich here.
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Finally Rich: The Story of Chief Keef and His Album That Changed Rap Forever Pt. 2