And with so many of the songs he made in the 2010s now going viral on TikTok, there’s a feeling that the artist (still only just 27) was ahead of his time. He also helped ignite drill music into a global movement, making it no surprise when A&Rs started fighting for his signature. Introducing the masses to hood colloquialisms like “sneak dissing”, “opps”, and “thots” (all terms that seemed to have entered the online vernacular of young people), Chief Keef was a true original. Today, this kind of internet memery is commonplace, but back in 2012, Keef was doing something truly pioneering. He inspired a feverish fandom and showed the industry how it could lucratively ride the wave of viral videos, such as this classic, where a man talks animatedly about Chief Keef like he’s a gangster comparable to John Gotti. And just like in his hometown of Chicago (where breakthrough 2011 mixtape Bang became the infamous O-Block ’s mixtape of choice), Chief Keef’s music seemed to re-energise London’s inner-city youth – as well as providing a lifeline for terminally online, disenfranchised teens everywhere.Ī shy high school dropout who hid his face behind a wall of dreadlocks and lived at his grandma Margaret ’s house on the South Side of Chicago, Chief Keef was an unlikely rap sensation. This impromptu performance crystallised a moment in time when a mysterious teenage emcee sent shockwaves through pop culture via anthemic hood anthems that were as chantable as they were nihilistic. As a muffled version of the song’s menacing instrumental played out of a Blackberry, communal cries of “ On that gangbangin’ shit, this is what I do ni*** ” cut through the air, terrifying a tutting couple draped in Hollister so badly that they rushed downstairs. It was October 2013 and I was on the night bus from Elephant and Castle to Camberwell, when the sedate drunken stupor of the top deck was suddenly interrupted by a group of rowdy teenagers, who spontaneously started singing the lyrics to Chief Keef’s “Aimed At You”. I’ve never seen a group of people look so scared.
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