During that time he was signed to a record deal by Interscope Records, the home of Dr. Keef, born Keith Cozart 17 years ago, was recently under house arrest for a gun charge. "I have spoken peace only (to) receive vitriol and malice in return," Fiasco wrote, and lamented the "paths to nothingness" that such attitudes entail. "Not him specifically, but just the culture that he represents." He decried the rising murder rate in his hometown and said, "You see who's doing it and perpetrating it, they all look like Chief Keef."įiasco, who has built a global reputation for crafting thoughtful, socially conscious music, responded passionately to Keef on his Twitter account, but with a tinge of sadness. He was responding in part to comments Fiasco made at a Baltimore radio station several days earlier. He called Fiasco a "hoe" among other epithets and vowed that when "I see him (I'll) smack him." On Wednesday, Keef went after another Chicago hip-hop artist, Lupe Fiasco, on Twitter. Chicago police are reportedly investigating a possible connection between the comments and Jojo's death. Keef took to his Twitter account Wednesday to respond to Jojo's death: "It's sad cus … Jojo wanted to be just like us #LMAO" (Internet slang for "laughing my ass off"). Jojo recently released a song on-line, "3hunna K" that mocked Reese, Keef and their "300 squad," which is associated with a street gang. His death starkly punctuated a gang-related war of words and music between Jojo and rapper Lil Reese, associated with the biggest new star in Chicago hip-hop, Chief Keef.
The bicycle-riding teen was slain by a drive-by shooter in his South Side Englewood neighborhood. This time the victim was Joseph Coleman (18-year-old rapper Lil Jojo). Tuesday was another night, another homicide in a year in which hundreds of Chicagoans have been gunned down the murder rate for the year's first half is up an alarming 38 percent over last year. Chicago's hip-hop community is in a war of words that has escalated into violence, with the shooting death of a teenage rapper.