Saturday, June 1, 2013

Chief Keef arrested...again

The 17-year old, Chicago-native rapper, Chief Keef has once again been arrested. The news started in Dec. of 2011 when Keef was first arrested for pointing a gun at a cop. He was then arrested in January of this year for violating his firearm-free probation when "he agreed to do a videotaped interview with Pitchfork at a New York gun range in June and fired a rifle there." Just last week the Engelwood teen added another charge to his record in an Atlanta hotel room, with counts of Marijuana possession and disorderly conduct, but that's not all. The video below documents his arrest at 3:45 AM this past monday after Chief Keef (Keith Cozart) was pulled over doing 110 MPH in his "BMW X6 M, flying down Winnetka Avenue in Northfield, IL around 3:45 AM" according to TMZ


CBS Local noted that Cozart, "was also charged with driving without a license because he only had a permit and had an unlawful number of passengers for a graduated driver." While I wrote my Junior Theme on the commercialization of hip hop, I too focused on artists such as Chief Keef and his hardcore, "from the streets" style that has made him rather popular in mainstream music. While Keef has had a violent, and criminal past, this is no longer a poor, South Side teenager. He lives in Northbrook. Yes, you heard me right. He lives in an affluent North Shore suburb, nowhere near any ghettos or hoods. 

Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times, and resident of Northbrook found out about this young rap star in his neighborhood and popped open a YouTube video where he described Chief Keef's music videos: "Golly. A lot of sculpted young men with their pants around their hips, boxers rampant, hopping about to this plodding, semi-hypnotic beat, smoking something, waving guns and fistfuls of money." I'm guessing he was not the only Northbrook resident to have some hesitations, perhaps even fears of this "negative influence" in their neighborhood, yet an overwhelming amount of North Shore teens would agree that they like to "bump" to Keef's music. I know my friends do. 

In my junior theme, I interviewed DJ and life-long hip hop fanatic, Spencer Howland who tells us, "White people applaud him, when in reality all he is doing is working completely against where hip hop and the civil rights movement have been going for so long. Many view his work as   completely destructive by bringing the music back to a culture of violence and garbage. White   people eat it up because they think it’s new experimentation and the voice of the street but it's indulgent and ignorant." Our culture has begun to accept this behavior, especially within the music industry. Why is it that privileged white teens are sponsoring these violent and misogynistic themes in music? Please share your thoughts below.