Chief Keef

**Keith Farrelle Cozart** (born August 15, 1995), known professionally as **Chief Keef**, is an American rapper and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He is recognized as an influential artist in modern hip-hop, where he has helped bring the drill subgenre into American mainstream.

In September 2012, he and Lupe Fiasco briefly made headlines with Fiasco's statement that "Chief Keef scares me," though the two settled it that same month. *The New York Times* noted of Fiasco being an "antagonist" to Keef, and added, "Lupe Fiasco is a stern and didactic teacher, but it's arguable that Chief Keef's music is far better at ringing warning bells."

## Background

In an interview with Baltimore's 92 Q Jams, Fiasco reported, "Chief Keef scares me. Not him specifically, but just the culture that he represents. Specifically in Chicago. And I don't speak this about any other city because I'm not from there. But like my family lives in Chicago. So my nephews, my cousins, my friends, and my peoples they all in those hoods that he represents. When you drive through Chicago... The hoodlums, the gangsters, and the ones you see killing each other. And the murder rate in Chicago is skyrocketing and you see who's doing it and perpetrating it, they all look like Chief Keef." He continued, "I understand where he came from, and I understand his struggle and I'm not [mad] at him, I'm [mad] at the place that he came from and that places like that still exist and incubate that mentality... When you're at high schools speaking to students, telling 'em how to survive the summer, and you turn on the radio and you hear that? You like, 'Aw nah.'"

This led to Chief posting to Twitter an open threat on September 5, 2012: "Lupe fiasco a hoe ass n\*\*\*a And wen I see him I'ma smack him like da lil bitch he is #300." Fiasco responded in a series of tweets:

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> i love u lil bruh @chiefkeef...i really really do from the bottom of my fucking heart. I know that street shit like the back of my hand.
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> ive seen it in every way you can possibly imagine and its nothing to be proud of @chiefkeef it TAKES and TAKES till there is nothing left
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> i choose not to indulge becuz its lil guys that look up to me so i try and show them a better way @chiefkeef i aint try to be BE better
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> I'm trying to DO better @chiefkeef as we all should. We were born with no expectations to make it. born in the hood, live there die there..
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> I cant go 4 that @chiefkeef & i cant let the people i love, including you my n\*\*\*a, go 4 that either. We kings not fucking savages and goons
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Chief Keef retweeted Fiasco's words, though Lupe eventually ended up deleting the tweets. Keef claimed his Twitter was hacked, ending, "my twitter has been hacked I think I'm making a new one dumb hating ass people #DontWannaSeeAYougN\*\*\*aShine."

Fiasco later wrote, "My father i have spoken the truth to them yet it has only made my life in this world more troubled. i can bear this no longer. i have spoken peace only 2 receive vitriol and malice in return. My brother seeks destruction, my sister seeks attention, paths to nothingness....i'd die for them...but they'd probably spit on my grave...i still will die for them...just bury me in a place far from their reach." Afterwards, he suggested that *Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1* would be his last album, as his "heart is broken" and he saw "no comfort further along this path only more pain. I cannot participate any longer in this. My first true love was literature so i will return to that...lupe fiasco ends here." This was moreso in reference to Fiasco's outspokenness about social issues that has often landed him in controversy, including his remarks about Barack Obama in 2011 that got him "immediately blackballed".

No I.D. observed of the incident, "It's a lot of pressure right now in our city. It's a lot of crime, it's a lot of need for opportunity to make a quality life for ourselves. I think we gotta let the emotions die over, I think we gotta bring the situation to a head. We're in this together. It's a lot of sad things that are occurring every day. Some things are involved in rap and some things are not involved in rap, and we don't get to see them all." He continued, "It's really important that we take our minds out of *rap* world and get into the real world. These are human lives and we really want to make sure that we value our lives and the lives of our children."

At the concert Yorkfest, held by Kiss 92.5 at Toronto's Rexall Centre on September 12, 2012, Fiasco publicly apologized for his comments. He said, "I do not have a ill will bone in my body for my brother Chief Keef. Understand where my homie come from, we come from the same streets. My resumé reads for itself. [...] I'm far from where I wanna be, I'm far from being a stand-up human being, I'm far from being a knowledgeable and wise young man as well. I'm somewhere in the middle. I ain't no saint, but with that said, I love my brother. I want to see him succeed and do his thing, and that goes for everybody anywhere, everywhere in the world. So shout out to the big homie Chief Keef!"

In September 2014, Fiasco performed a freestyle over the instrumental of Chief Keef's song "I Don't Like" at Aahh! Fest; however, he has expressed disapproval of drill music as a whole. He told *The Ringer* in 2022, "I have a critique of drill music for its content because it actually gets people killed, not 'I have something wrong with people talking about killing people.'"

## References

1. ↑ Drake, David (February 12, 2018). "The Music Industry Wasn't Ready for Chief Keef". *The Outline*.
2. ↑ Caramanica, Jon (October 4, 2012). "Chicago Hip-Hop's Raw Burst of Change". *The New York Times*.
3. ↑ Harling, Danielle (August 29, 2012). "Lupe Fiasco Says He's Fearful of the Culture Chief Keef Represents". *HipHopDX*.
4. ↑ Isenberg, Daniel (September 5, 2012). "Chief Keef Disses Lupe Fiasco On Twitter, Lupe Responds". *Complex*.
5. ↑ Gale, Alex (September 6, 2012). "Lupe Fiasco Hints at Retirement After Chief Keef Beef". *BET*.
6. ↑ Virk, Kameron (July 26, 2020). "Lupe Fiasco: America's influence in the world is 'dwindling'". *BBC*.
7. ↑ Markman, Rob (September 11, 2012). "Chief Keef, Lupe Fiasco Feud Is Deeper Than Rap, No I.D. Says". *MTV*.
8. ↑ Khandaker, Tamara (September 19, 2012). "Fantastic Fiasco performance at Yorkfest". *Excalibur*.
9. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Shouts Out Chief Keef, Apologizes for Comments". *HipHopDX*. September 13, 2012.
10. ↑ Thompson, Paul (August 2, 2022). ""Rappers Don't Fall Off": Lupe Fiasco on Aging in Hip-Hop, Drill Music, and the Audience". *The Ringer*.