Chief Keef

A product of Chicago's underground hip-hop scene in the 2010s, Chief Keef (born Keith Farrelle Cozart on August 15, 1995 in Chicago, Illinois) feeds his lyrics with brutal stories inspired by his life on the streets of his city. He is recognized as one of the pioneers of drill. Raised in the tough South Side neighborhood of Washington Park by a single mother and grandmother, Keith Cozart began rapping at the age of five on a karaoke machine after hearing Beanie Sigel and Lil Wayne. He recorded his first demos with a family friend, DJ Ken, when he was just 12. Although he was implicated in the notorious Black Disciples gang and charged with heroin manufacturing and trafficking in 2011, his musical reputation quickly grew locally. He was under house arrest for illegal use of a firearm when his first mixtapes The Glory Road, Bang, and Back from the Dead began to gain popularity. Videos made by amateur filmmaker D Gains also helped propel his name beyond Chicago, and just as his MySpace views were reaching millions, his track "I Don't Like" was remixed by Kanye West, sparking a battle between record companies to be the first to sign him. He signed a $6 million contract with Interscope when he was just 16, and released his debut album Finally Rich in 2012. Inspired by Southern trap and gangsta rap aesthetics, he established himself as one of the pioneers of drill, creating a violent and disturbing new soundtrack to contemporary urban culture. He went on to collaborate with Gucci Mane, Wacka Flocka Flame, and Young Chop, and appeared on Kanye West's "Hold My Liquor " while creating his own platinum-selling anthems "Love Sosa" and "Hate Bein' Sober" with 50 Cent and Wiz Khalifa. Chief Keef continued to release mixtapes at a steady pace. His subsequent albums, Bang 3 and 2015's Bang 3, Part 2, illustrated his rise from a troubled, nihilistic street kid to one of rap's most controversial and influential stars. In 2021, he released 4NEM, his fourth studio album, which reached number 141 in the United States. The rapper achieved one of his best commercial performances with his following album, Almighty So 2, released in 2024, which reached number 30 in the U.S. and entered the Top 10 of the country's rap charts.