Chief Keef

Did You Know?

• Chief Keef is named after his deceased uncle, Keith Carter, who was known as Big Keef.
• He lived at the Parkway Garden Homes located in the Washington Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, a stronghold for the Black Disciples street gang of which Chief Keef is a member.
• His legal guardian was his grandmother, Margaret Carter, who worked as a school bus driver.

Career

Chief Keef began making music in 2008, putting out his first mixtape, UF Overload, the following year. He first gained notice in Chicago's South Side in 2011 with two more mixtapes, The Glory Road and Bang. That December, he was taken into custody for shooting a gun from his car in Washington Park. He served 30 days of house arrest at his grandmother's place, then another 30 days of home confinement. During that time, he uploaded videos to YouTube that would become early examples of Chicago's drill sound. Through his uncle, he met DJ Kenn, a producer who had moved from Japan. Kenn helped create many of Keef's early tracks and was part of the Glory Boys Entertainment (GBE) crew.

Keef's track "I Don't Like" blew up locally. One party promoter described it as the ideal Chicago song because people there "just hate everything out here." Kanye West heard it and put together a remix with Pusha T, Jadakiss, and Big Sean, which pushed Keef from relative anonymity into the spotlight. By summer 2012, labels were fighting to sign him, with Young Jeezy's CTE World among the bidders.

Though he didn't release much music that year, Keef started 2012 by joining Interscope Records. He also got his own imprint, Glory Boyz Entertainment, as part of a separate deal worth $6 million across three albums, plus a $440,000 advance to launch the label. The contract allowed Interscope to back out if his debut album, Finally Rich, failed to sell 250,000 copies by December 2013. That album dropped on December 18, 2012, and featured 50 Cent, Wiz Khalifa, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, and fellow GBE member Lil Reese. In May 2013, he signed with 1017 Brick Squad Records.

Keef appeared on "Hold My Liquor," the fifth song on Kanye West's album Yeezus, released June 18, 2013. Musician Lou Reed praised Keef's contribution, calling the track heartbreaking and noting the impact of hearing such a poignant hook from a tough figure like Chief Keef.

Personal life

Chief Keef became a father for the first time at age 16, welcoming a daughter. In November 2013, DNA tests confirmed he had another daughter, then 10 months old, with a woman who was 20 years his senior. A court ordered him to pay child support to the child’s mother. In September 2014, he announced the arrival of his third child, his first son. A year later, in May 2015, a different woman sued him, claiming he was the father of her child. Because he did not respond to the legal papers, a judge ordered him to appear in court. When he failed to show up, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Despite the legal troubles, LA Weekly noted that on Instagram, at least, Keef “appears to take fatherhood seriously.”

In September 2012, Keef posted a photo on Instagram showing a female fan performing oral sex on him. He quickly deleted the image, but Instagram banned his account for violating its rules. He later created a new account, and his activity on the platform has been covered by various media outlets. In August 2015, he sparked controversy by naming his newborn son Sno “FilmOn Dot Com,” a name inspired by his record label, FilmOn Music, as a promotional stunt for his album Bang 3. After a dispute over the child’s paternity arose, the label withdrew the name until the issue could be resolved.

Two of Keef’s cousins, Fredo Santana and Tadoe, were signed to his Glory Boyz Entertainment label. His step-brother was shot and killed on January 2, 2013. Another cousin, Mario Hess—known onstage as Blood Money and also called Big Glo—was shot dead in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood on April 9, 2014. Hess had signed with Interscope Records just two weeks before his death. In a Billboard interview, Keef reflected on the impact of Big Glo’s murder, saying, “When that happened that was the biggest lesson. It told me ‘You gotta grow up.’”

Image

Chief Keef is often seen as a representation of the "Chiraq" gangsta rap culture that is present in Chicago. He often refers to himself as "Sosa" as do his peers and the media. The nickname "Sosa" is a reference to Alejandro Sosa, the drug kingpin in the movie Scarface. LA Weekly reported that Chief Keef's Glo Gang entourage respects the rapper.

One member of the Glo Gang, Ballout, stated, "We learned all that from Sosa, we be in the studio with him so much", calling him, "a rhyming machine. A music genius. Black Justin Bieber, if you ask me." The New York Times stated that Chief Keef "symbolizes" Chicago's drill music scene and is the "best known of the young generation of Chicago rappers."

In November 2012, Lucy Stehlik of The Guardian described Chief Keef as drill's "alpha male". David Drake of Pitchfork Media wrote, "Chief Keef is in rarefied air for street rap—a creative voice with an original, cohesive aesthetic", adding, "to the grassroots, among a new generation of stars, he sits at street rap's aesthetic center, not its margins." A New York Times article compared Chief Keef to 50 Cent, noting that, like him, Chief Keef makes thuggery, "a major part of his early-career persona."

Lupe Fiasco, who has been involved in a controversy with him, has been referred to as an "antagonist" to Chief Keef's more gangsta-rap persona. The New York Times writes, "Lupe Fiasco is a stern and didactic teacher, but it's arguable that Chief Keef's music is far better at ringing warning bells." Another rapper, Common, has praised his contributions to rap saying, "I think Chief Keef brought something that nobody else was doing and he brought it raw.

He brought it real. With that, I have to respect that as an artist that he has come and brought that." Other rappers, such as Rhymefest and Lupe Fiasco, however, have been critical of Chief Keef. In June 2012, Rhymefest authored a blog post critical of his image and message, describing him as a "bomb" and a "spokesman for the Prison Industrial Complex".

The post was also critical of rappers Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross, citing similar issues. Rhymefest reiterated these views in a subsequent interview with Salon. Lupe Fiasco's criticisms of Keef touched off a feud between the two.

Hip hop feuds

In an August 2012 interview with Baltimore radio station 92Q Jams (WERQ-FM), Lupe Fiasco stated that Chief Keef "scares" him and described him as a "hoodlum" and a representative of Chicago's "skyrocketing" murder rate. A tweet from Chief Keef's account threatening Fiasco was posted on September 5. Chief Keef claimed that his account had been hacked and the tweet was not his. On September 13, 2012, Fiasco released a video interview in which he made amends to Chief Keef.

In November 2014, rap group Migos and Glo Gang member, Capo, were involved in a physical altercation in a Chicago restaurant. Later, Chief Keef uploaded an image onto Instagram featuring an alleged stolen chain belonging to rapper Quavo of Migos. Though this incident escalated the already existing tension between the two groups' members, the feud seemingly ended. Chief Keef was involved in a feud with rapper 6ix9ine in May 2018.

This stemmed from Tadoe's domestic abuse and relationship issues relating to fellow rapper Cuban Doll. She was in a relationship with Tadoe but also friendly with 6ix9ine. 6ix9ine then dissed Chief Keef and rapper Lil Reese on social media posting a video of his semi-romantic vacation to Hawaii with Cuban Doll to Instagram, and driving up to Chief Keef's old neighborhood and taunting him. 6ix9ine also contacted Aereon Clark, known professionally as Slim Danger, the mother of one of Chief Keef's sons and recorded himself buying her designer clothes, verbally taunting Chief Keef and later receiving fellatio from her.

On May 8, 2018, Trippie Redd previewed the song "I Kill People" on Instagram, featuring Chief Keef and Tadoe, which was aimed as a diss toward 6ix9ine and Cuban Doll. On June 2, 2018, Chief Keef was fired upon outside the W Hotel in New York City. He was not hit and there were no injuries from the incident. Due to the ongoing feud, 6ix9ine was confirmed to be under investigation by the New York Police Department for possible involvement in the incident despite being in Los Angeles at the time.

In February 2019, 6ix9ine pleaded guilty to ordering the shooting of Chief Keef. He had offered his associate Kintea "Kooda B" McKenzie $20,000 to shoot at Cozart. 6ix9ine was later found to be an informant for the U.S. Government helping to lock up Kooda B, and his manager Kifano "Shotti" Jordan.