Initially, upon its release, I admittingly preferred the rough and raw sound from BFTD because, to me, it accurately captured the cold, grim nature of the streets of Chicago at the time. In spite of this, he presented a kind of drill rap that was menacing, yet gleefully infectious, and surprisingly nimble on a beat - as presented on the mesmerizing “No Tomorrow.” Add his looming persona and you have a rare, generational cult icon that even has Billie Eilish singing his songs in karaoke bars.Ĭompared to the mixtape, Back from the Dead, Finally Rich was a case of turning the unstoppable Jason Voorhees of Chicago rap, Chief Keef, into Uber Jason as Interscope’s big-budget polish enhanced the commercial appeal of some of his most raw songs, turning viral street hits - like the classic tag team with Lil Reese, “Don’t Like,” and “3Hunna” - into platinum-selling, Billboard chart-topping hits. He didn’t speak much in interviews and, like the lore of most American rock musicians, he was a “rebel without a cause,” but marred with generations of racial oppression in Chicago. Hidden behind his growing locs at all times was a musical magnet for controversy. The young man who made his native Parkway Gardens (aka O-Block) famous had a unique je ne sais quoi that went beyond his music. Finally Rich was a culmination of all of those moments, as the tide was turning in Chicago’s favor.
#Chief keef 3hunna interview free
All of this was happening at the same time that the way we digitally consumed music was changing drill music was growing in popularity between the tail end of the “blog era” and the height of free mixtape websites, at the early beginnings of the streaming wars and gang culture becoming viral on social media. And while Keef, born Keith Cozart, did not invent drill (that credit goes to the late Pac Man) no one - beyond Kanye West, at the time - rocked the world the way he did that year when he double-fisted pop culture with his mixtape Back from the Dead and, later that year, his debut album, Finally Rich.įeared and despised by the City of Chicago and rap purists alike, Keef blew up in a Chicagoland that, as it witnessed those landmark moments, suffered a heartbreaking year of gun violence, tallying over 500 homicides, while still reeling from the police shooting of Rekia Boyd - all under the notorious former Chicago mayor and vocal Chief Keef opp, Rahm Emanuel. It was a monumental year where we witnessed the rise of former Chicago Bull and then-reigning MVP Derrick Rose, former president Barack Obama winning re-election as the U.S.’s first Black president, and the hostile takeover of the infamous hip-hop subgenre drill by the 16-year-old enigma Chief Keef. Black Chicago culture practically smacked the country on its ass in an unprecedented victory lap in 2012.
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