Chief Keef

Keith Cozart (born August 15, 1995),^[1] better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. He has signed a major record deal with Interscope Records, along with 1017 Brick Squad, and is the CEO of his own record label Glory Boyz Entertainment.^[2] His debut album Finally Rich was released on December 18, 2012.^[3]

Biography

Early life

Keith Cozart was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the Englewood neighborhood on the city's South Side.^[4][5] He attended Dulles Elementary School and the Banner School, a therapeutic day school.^[6] Cozart dropped out of high school at age 15.^[7] He began rapping at a very young age, regularly listed as 5, using his mother's karaoke machine and blank tapes to record his music.^{[citation needed]}

Music career

While under house arrest for a previous weapons charge, Cozart posted several videos to his YouTube account. The attention he received increased during the short time between the release of several mixtapes and music videos, including "Bang", "3Hunna" and "I Don't Like".^[8] After two locally successful mixtapes, "I Don't Like" became a local hit in Chicago. It also caught fellow Chicago rapper Kanye West's attention, and West created a remix of the song with rappers Pusha T, Jadakiss and Big Sean.^[9]

In the summer of 2012, Keef was in the middle of a bidding war with many labels to sign him including Young Jeezy's CTE World. He would end up signing with Interscope Records due to them giving him his own label to run in Glory Boyz Entertainment.^[10] The deal is worth six million dollars over a three album deal. According to the deal Interscope has the right to pull out of the contract if he doesn't sell 250,000 copies of his debut LP by December 2013.^[11] Chief Keef's debut studio album Finally Rich, was released on December 18, 2012. Featured guests on the album included rappers 50 Cent, Wiz Khalifa, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross and his fellow Glory Boyz member Lil Reese.^[12]

In December 2012, Chief Keef announced that his hit single Love Sosa will be included in the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto V.^[13] On March 26, 2013 it was announced that Keef would be a part of XXL Magazine's 2013 Freshman Class.^[14] On May 8, 2013 Gucci Mane announced via Twitter that Chief Keef was the newest member of 1017 Brick Squad Records.^[15] On his 18th birthday, August 15, 2013 Chief Keef celebrated by releasing the mixtape Bang Part 2.^[16] Bang Part 2 was highly anticipated as the first project following his debut album, but ended up disappointing quite a few and received mixed critical responses. On October 12, 2013, he released Almighty Sosa another mixtape, however leading up to release he did not do much promotion for it.^[17] Following his October 2013 jail term, he began working on his second studio album and a biopic.^[18]

Other ventures

Glory Boyz Entertainment

Following his signing to Interscope Records they rewarded Keef with his own record label which he named Glory Boyz Entertainment, which would be a subsidiary under Interscope. He signed his various friends to the record label such as Lil Reese, Fredo Santana and Young Chop. The label had already been active since 2011, however only released mixtapes and was not a full on record company. After releasing Keef's Finally Rich in December 2012, the label is set to release an album by Lil Reese in the coming months, along with various mixtapes. However, on January 3, 2014, Chief Keef said that Glory Boyz Entertainment was "no more," and was starting a new record label Glo Gang. It is unknown which if any artists would be transferring over from GBE.^[19]

Artists

• Chief Keef (GBE/1017 Brick Squad/Interscope)
• Lil Reese (3hunna Ent./GBE/Def Jam)
• Fredo Santana (Savage Squad/3hunna Ent./GBE)
• SD (Savage Squad/3hunna Ent./GBE)
• Trey Savage^[20]
• Ballout^[20]
• Capo^[20]
• Gino Marley^[20] (Savage Squad/GBE)
• Tadoe^[20]
• Blood Money^[20]

Managed producers

• Young Chop
• 12 Hunna

Legal issues

On January 27, 2011, Cozart was apprehended on charges of heroin manufacture and distribution. He was found delinquent and served time on house arrest.^[21]

In December 2011, Cozart left his grandmother's home holding a coat over his hands in front of his waistband. A policeman stopped to question the rapper, who dropped the coat, flashed a handgun and ran away. Officers chased then 16-year-old Cozart, who turned around several times and pointed the gun at them. The policemen "discharged their weapons," but missed. They caught him a half-block later and recovered the pistol, which was loaded. Cozart was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm on a police officer and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was also given a misdemeanor charge for resisting arrest. He was held in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center until a judge sentenced him to home confinement at his grandmother’s house.^[22]

On September 5, 2012, Chicago Police disclosed to the Chicago Sun-Times that Cozart is being investigated for a possible connection in the shooting death of fellow rapper and Englewood resident, Joseph 'Lil JoJo' Coleman.^[23] This came after Keef had mocked his death on Twitter,^[24] which he later claimed was the result of his account being hacked.^[25] Coleman's mother has openly claimed that Chief Keef paid to have her son killed.^[26]

On October 17, 2012, Cook County prosecutors asked a judge to remand Cozart to juvenile detention for alleged parole violations stemming from a video interview he held at a shooting range which included him discharging a firearm. A hearing was set for November 20, 2012 which was subsequently moved to January 28, 2013 and again moved to January 15.^[27][28] The website that posted it, Pitchfork Media, was ordered by the court to provide the interview's footage after they removed it three months prior.^[29] On December 31, 2012, Cozart was issued a judicial summons for a new and unrelated alleged parole violation. Prosecutors claimed that he failed to notify his juvenile parole officer about a change of address. A hearing was set for January 2, 2013.^[30] Cozart scored a victory in court, when the judge allowed him to remain free over prosecutors request that he be jailed.^[31]

On January 15, 2013, Cozart was taken into custody after a juvenile court judge ruled that the aforementioned gun range interview video constituted a probation violation. Two days later, Cozart was sentenced to two months in a juvenile detention facility and was additionally made a ward of the state.^[32] On March 14, 2013, Keef was released from a juvenile detention center after serving the 60 days for violating his probation.^[33]

On January 17, 2013, Keef was sued by Washington, D.C.-based promotion company Team Major for $75,000 for a missed show. According to the firm, Keef was supposed to perform at the IndigO2 Arena in London this past December 29, 2012 but never showed. Neither Keef nor his label has given any kind of response as to why he missed the date.^[34] He ignored the lawsuit and the court sided with Team Major, ordering Keef to pay $230,019 to Team Major by default.^[35]

On May 20, 2013, he was arrested in an upscale hotel in DeKalb County, Georgia for allegedly smoking marijuana in public and for disorderly conduct.^[36] He was released later in the day.^[37] Eight days later, Keef was arrested for driving 110 mph in a 55 mph zone in his hometown Chicago, and also for driving with an unlawful amount of passengers. He was later released on a bond.^[38] He returned to court on June 17, and pled guilty to speeding. He was ordered to pay a $531 fine, serve 18 months of probation, complete 60 hours of community service and undergo random drug tests.^[39]

On October 15, 2013, Keef returned to jail for a 20-day sentence due to a probation violation. The probation violation was due to testing positive for marijuana.^[18] On October 24, 2013, Keef was released ten days early for good behavior.^[40] However, again on November 6, 2013, Keef was sent back to jail on another probation violation.^[41]

On February 4, 2014, Kim Productions filed suit against Cozart to recover losses they allege they incurred after he failed to appear at a RapCure benefit concert in Cleveland, OH in June 2013.^[42] The suit alleges that Kim Productions provided Cozart with a $15,000 deposit for the performance. Despite the advance, the lawsuit further alleges that as a result of Cozart's failure to appear, the concert had to be cancelled.

Controversies

Rhymefest and Lupe Fiasco

In June 2012, Chicago rapper Rhymefest authored a blog post critical of Chief Keef's image and message, describing Cozart as a "bomb" and a "spokesman for the Prison Industrial Complex". The post was also critical of rappers Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross, citing similar reasons.^[43] Rhymefest reiterated these views in a subsequent interview with Salon.^[44]

In an August 2012 interview with Baltimore radio station 92Q Jams, Lupe Fiasco stated that Chief Keef "scares" him and went on to describe the other rapper as a "hoodlum" and representative of Chicago's "skyrocketing" murder rate.^[45] Keef responded on September 5 with a tweet threatening Lupe Fiasco,^[46] but then claimed that his account had been hacked and that the previous tweet was inauthentic.^[47] On September 13, 2012, Fiasco released a video interview in which he made amends to Keef.^[48]

Instagram

On September 15, 2012, Cozart uploaded a photograph of himself receiving oral sex to the image sharing application Instagram. As a result, his account was subsequently banned for violating Instagram's terms of service.^[49]

Katy Perry

On May 21, 2013, pop singer Katy Perry tweeted her dislike for one of Chief Keef's singles, "Hate Bein' Sober."^[50][51] Cozart responded with a series of tweets threatening Perry and hinted that he would release a diss track aimed at her.^[52][53][54] The two recording artists shortly reconciled.^[55]

Personal life

Cozart was born when his mother was 16, and is named after his deceased uncle.^[56] At the age of 16, Cozart had his first child - a daughter, called Kay Kay, born Kayden Kash Cozart.^[1] He had been put on child support.^[57] Two of his cousins, Fredo Santana and Tadoe, are on his label Glory Boys Entertainment.^[58] According to his lawyer, he is estranged from his biological father. Cozart's stepbrother was shot dead on January 2, 2013.^[59]

Discography

• Back from the Dead (2012)
• Finally Rich (2012)

References