Chief Keef, Modern Rap Godfather

Caleb Catlin
5 min readMar 23, 2020
Source: theverge.com

Chief Keef is a legend and a pioneer of the current rap scene. Let’s get that out of the way early. Being like 16–17 years old and dropping an eternal banger like “I Don’t Like” really solidifies that fact. The fact that he’s only 24 melted my brain because I grew up during Chief Keef’s astronomical run. Growing up in Florida, everybody I knew was blasting “Love Sosa” from their iPhone speakers at absurd levels early in the morning before class. The impact “Faneto” had on all of my friends is indescribable. I can’t imagine what all of this was like for the youth in Chicago. Regardless of the power of Sosa’s prime, what I don’t see discussed enough is his longevity. What I want to get across is why Chief Keef should be heralded amongst many of our modern hip-hop greats and to give him his flowers while he’s still here. There isn’t a better place to start than the beginning.

2012: Dropping “Back From the Dead” and “Finally Rich” in the same year is a monumental feat, akin to DMX dropping his first two classic albums in 1998. Chief Keef and DMX actually share a handful of similarities. Not only do they share an infectiously raucous energy that continue to wreak havoc towards car speakers, their first two projects are riddled with incredible records.

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Caleb Catlin
Caleb Catlin

Written by Caleb Catlin

I get real nerdy about music and other things

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