<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/wozoK3OjYyc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Self-Produced by Keef and a real inversion of the Back From The Dead 2 sound which felt like MAXIMUM GRAVITY. A constant sense of density and bone breaking pressure creating some alien life. This on the other hand goes the opposite. The beat suggests a different life where Keith Cozart is an American Ryuichi Sakamoto.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/tD3xowIXjAA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Early cult hit. I remember a video of Fat Trel and The Slutty Boyz hanging out and one member of the crew drove up with this song playing and he and Trel started reciting the song to each other as soon as they saw each other. The beat itself has an incredibly 'techno' vibe with the synthwork, but likewise Keef here feels particularly plugged in.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kOz8vw6b3tI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Remember when the first album snippets a lot of friends instantly keyed in on "Citgo" whereas I was confounded by this one. Just tyrannical sounding and already just playing with nonsensical syllables, moving away from obvious melodies. A progenitor of his BFTD2 sound in so many ways whereas "Citgo" pointed to things he'd do immediately after.
<iframe width="727" height="409" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/V3Rj-4702Is" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Similar vibes of dread and being sludgy and trenchant. Produced by TM88 from 808 Mafia who similarly mined this sort of 'car stalling in the mud' vibe on Future's "DNA" to great effect. Here though it's a lot more literary and you can see the jump from teenager Keef to 'adult' Keef. Just incredibly bizarre wordplay, v. post-Gucci but incredibly self-reflexive and narcissistic in a way Gucci just isn't when he's at his best. Compare and contrast it to Gucci's "Follow Me" where Obama tells him to get in line while here Keef's pretending he's being scoffed at by Obama for boasting he'll take care of the President. You'd never say Chief Keef is self-aware all the time but, how can he not be to make his own ego the punchline like that?
<iframe width="545" height="409" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vKW0qH0lY1U" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Escaping the first person. Verses from the perspective of his admirers, his haters, etc. Early example of the insularity that luka and Third refer to. Also such a bizarre abuse of autotune that breaks it and abuses it to his purposes.
<iframe width="727" height="409" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/v5bYChmx1KE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
"I'm so fucking high boy, I'm where Jesus be./Shoot a N***A ass if he don't believe in me." Opening sentence to a verse and it already establishes his sense of self as being jihadi-like. Incredible.
<iframe width="545" height="409" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_6wP_0ndAnE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Easily a birth of the in-and-out chorus-verse-chorus and done approach of modern rap. Moroder-like synths ooze in with opulence, everything's down to an absolute crawl and Keef himself a gargle of pghlem from the coughed intro and solidified by the artificial effects. Languid like you wouldn't believe. "A N***A try to rob me, he'll be Brains Blown Shawty", such a bizarre sentence, hasn't ever left me since hearing it.