Teenage Chicago rapper Chief Keef was sentenced to two months in juvenile detention yesterday, Jan. 17, after a judge determined that he violated his probation by being filmed at a gun range. The sentence caps off a year in which Keef was involved in numerous controversies, and fellow hip-hop star Waka Flocka Flame opted to offer some words of advice to the younger man.
“People like me, I could just show him the bigger picture like, ‘You ain’t gotta hold no gun in no interview. It’s bigger than that, you’re already there. Get your people out,’ ” Waka told MTV.
The Atlanta rap star was himself widely criticized when he initially broke through in hip-hop. The backlash against Waka stemmed more from some critics’ disdain for his music, however; whereas many are concerned about the violent lifestyle that Chief Keef represents — both on record and in his real life — especially considering Keef is from a city where young black teenagers are being murdered in record numbers.
But Waka says that Keef, born Keith Cozart, is just a young guy who needs more guidance and someone around him who respects him enough to ask him to change.
“That goes to show people don’t care about the situation, they just gonna laugh at the lifestyle,” Waka says. “That Chief Keef situation; that just showed me how people can just disrespect you and accept you at the same time. That’s a kid at the end of the day. I feel like that’s me when I first started rapping, people judged me. It’s just that they judge you because they don’t understand you. Instead of judging the kid and just bashing him down, why not reach an arm out and help him?”
Maybe losing his freedom so soon after attaining fame will help set the youngster on the right path.
–stereo williams
