Chief Keef
“No” // “How it Go”
Digital Singles
You might think that Chief Keef’s 15 minutes are up. You might think that the crown prince of Chicago’s troubled drill scene was a flash in the pan, a sad indictment of a hip-hop world that has lost its way. You might think that he’s a no-talent charlatan, riding a superficial wave of tabloid buzz and a vulgar public persona to the lowest common denominator of fame. You might think he’s an idiot, a thug, a hopeless case, just killing time before he recedes back into the shadowy part of America you prefer to imagine does not exist. If you think all these things, you might post about them on the Internet. A lot.
Well, you might be wrong. He just might be a relentlessly experimental young artist who adheres to none of the Empire’s preconceptions of what a rapper is supposed to be. He just might be a sonically fearless musician, obsessed with crafting music that he wants to hear, not what A&R wants you to hear. He just might be a refreshingly free artist, a welcome foil to the thousands of overly self-aware young acts focused on building an easily digestible brand, not taking risks. And if you listen hard enough, he just might offer some pretty fascinating insight into being young, on your own, and engulfed by an impossibly bright spotlight.
More than anything, he just might not give even one single, solitary fuck what any of you think. And that’s why he still matters.
