Still, Chief Keef’s pink slip arrives during a year when rap is regaining a bit of the grit that for the past few years has been greatly drowned out within Drake’s tear ducts. He’s an easy bullseye for hip-hop detractors and purists, while remaining a curiosity for cultural tourists. By taking Waka Flocka Flame’s uninhibited aggression and lacing it with gunpowder, Keef became the face of not only Chicago’s drill subgenre, but also the alarming homicide statistics it reflects. His debut studio album, Finally Rich, was called both “one of the best major-label debuts in recent memory” by Spin and “sonically bankrupt” by, the latter dubbing it 2012’s worst album. His stint on Interscope (also home to LMFAO and Fergie) was punctuated by a house arrest stints in rehab, jail and juvenile detention (he infamously violated his probation in June 2012 by interviewing with Pitchfork at a shooting range) and a rumored involvement in the murder of rival rapper Lil JoJo, whose death he mocked on Twitter. Bang-bang!Īnyone paying attention to the career of young Keith Cozart, now 19, could’ve seen this coming. Yet two years and one polarizing album later, Keef has been dumped by his label and sent (literally) packing. After a brief bidding war, Keef quickly inked with Interscope for three solo albums and his own Glory Boyz Entertainment imprint, reportedly worth a combined $6 million.

Music family hijacked the Young Chop-produced instrumental and released a remix. The song, which candidly details Keef’s greatest displeasures, went viral after fellow Chicagoan Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. It was the video for his 2012 breakout hit “I Don’t Like”: the shirtless 16-year-old rapper exhaling weed smoke, wildly shaking his ’locs, and clutching an automatic gun with a huge clip stuffed into gravity-defeated denims, while friends jumped around and aimed firearms of their own.

For many, the initial image of Chief Keef was jarring.

Chief keef albums with gun on the cover