Chief Keef – Finally Rich

Chief Keefsounds tough as shit on record. Combine Waka’s energy, Dre’s street cred and, clickety-clack trap instrumentals that are just this side of outright violence, and the cold, steely focus of Bruce Willis towards the end of the original Die Hard, and you’ve got something close to Keef (aka 17-year-old Kieth Cozart). Keef’s trouble with the law is well-detailed around the internet; guilty or innocent (the charges are still pending), his music emanates the sort of aggression that Americans have come to expect from rap music.

Finally Rich, Keef’s new record, is quite good – catchy, rhythmic, and just obnoxious enough to be exciting without seeming goofy – but it’s not the sort of thing you necessarily see playing for your kids in ten years. (Though I love trap, I think this is a shortcoming of the genre: it shoots its load early and often, which after a while gets a little old. Also, if I’m in the right mood, all the synthesizers sound like Gangster Trans-Syberian Orchestra. I know, I know.) Part of this is the post-Soulja, post-Lil-B, post-Waka world in which technical ability (cf. this or this) is de-emphasized and style takes the front seat. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but even the most lyrical – Kendrick Lamar, for example – partake of the one-two punchline every once in a while. There are things to love about this and things to hate; Keef’s mostly something to love. (Don’t tell him I said that.)

But anyway – like I said, it’s a good record. It’s fun as hell, for one: tracks like “I Hate Being Sober” and “Love Sosa” are genius-level club music, and of course the breakthrough hit “3 Hunna” (with a thoroughly entertaining guest-appearance by the Boss) is a smoked-out good time too. Young Chop, Keef’s producer of choice, trots out blaring half-time parades track after track, each of them carried through by staccato hi-hats and the throb of sub-bass. This is a record with nary a single moment of subtlety, but somehow that doesn’t really matter.

4 / 5 bars

Chief Keef – “Love Sosa”

01 Love Sosa

Chief Keef – “3 Hunna”

11 3Hunna Ft Rick Ross