About Chief Keef
Keith Farrelle Cozart , better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago's South Side, he began his recording career as a teenager and initially garnered regional attention and praise for his mixtapes in the early 2010s. Cozart is often credited with popularizing the hip hop subgenre drill for mainstream audiences, and is considered a progenitor of the genre.
His fifth mixtape, Back from the Dead , spawned the single "I Don't Like" , which became a local hit and marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. A bidding war between several major labels resulted in Cozart signing with Interscope Records, who commercially re-released the song with its follow-up, "Love Sosa", which received quintuple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America . Both songs led up to his debut studio album, Finally Rich , which was met with moderate critical and commercial response and served as his only project on a major label. His following independent studio albums—Bang 3 , Bang 3, Pt. 2 , 4Nem , and Almighty So 2 —have each entered the Billboard 200. Two of his guest appearances—on the songs "Bean " by Lil Uzi Vert and "All the Parties" by Drake—have peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Rolling Stone has credited Cozart with "personif Chicago drill", while Stereogum referred to him as a "modern rap folk hero". He is also considered one of the most prominent Black Disciples members of his generation.
Chief Keef was born Keith Farrelle Cozart in Chicago, Illinois, on August 15, 1995, to Lolita Carter who was 14 and unwed. He is named after his deceased uncle, Keith Carter, who was known as "Big Keef". He lived at the Parkway Garden Homes located in the Washington Park neighborhood on the city's South Side, a stronghold for the Black Disciples street gang of which Chief Keef is a member. Sociologist R. L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy described Chief Keef’s mentality as a member, "Chicago’s Black Disciples is central to who he is and who he should be".
Chief Keef has been estranged from his biological father, Alfonso Cozart, since he was a year old. His legal guardian was his grandmother, Margaret Carter with whom he lived in Chicago. She worked as a school bus driver.
He began rapping as a five-year-old using his mother's karaoke machine and tapes to record his music.
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