On the second night of Ye’s star-studded homecoming concert Sept. 5 at Soldier Field, Yeezy brought an unexpected special guest. In his first concert appearance within city limits in more than a decade, Chief Keef rose atop the gigantic electronic globe under angry red lights to the shock of the sold-out stadium.
As if he were the drill Michael Jackson himself, the whole stadium erupted as Keef stood for a few seconds and gave Ye a dap. “Chief Sosa in the f—— building, yes sir,” he said before he performed his 2012 hit, “Love Sosa.” It was a historic moment for the once-maligned rapper/producer/entrepreneur that no one, not even him, could have imagined.
“I didn’t think I would make it as far as Soldier Field,” said Keef earlier this month in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. “It’s a good feeling to be able to do stuff like that. And then the stage is crazy; I’ve never been on a stage like that before. That was kind of cool, bro, to be with all the ‘Chiraq’ legends.”
The guest appearance at Ye’s concert was a warm-up to the “Chief Keef Live 2026” tour kickoff concert on Saturday at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island. Now 31, the South Side native, born Keith Cozart, is kicking the tour off in his hometown because, after years of returning for his peers, he says it’s time for him to have his own homecoming. (Keef performed in Bridgeview in 2024 and this year at Summer Smash but not in the city proper.)
“Because that’s the city! I’ve been back numerous times for other shows, Kanye, Cole Bennett, why not do my s—,” said Keef.
Chief Keef rose to prominence in 2011 through his viral, homemade music videos like “Bang” and “300.” As his music soundtracked the rampant gang violence in the early 2010s, his music spread from high schools to nightclubs and beyond. Then, his song “I Don’t Like” took off, leading to a short-lived deal with Interscope Records.
Since then, Chief Keef has rebuilt his career as an independent artist with his own label, 43B, moved to Los Angeles and tried to confront the legal issues that mounted as a teen that have held him back: time under house arrest as he built his following on YouTube before breaking out and multiple warrants issued for his arrest for unpaid child support and a DUI in Highland Park.
He was also unofficially blacklisted from Chicago venues for the better part of a decade, which is why Keef had to appear via hologram at a 2015 Indiana show, a benefit to raise money for victims of gun violence, including his friend, Martin “Capo” Carr. The office of then-mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement calling him “an unacceptable role model” and labeled the performance “a significant public safety risk.”
By then, he had left Chicago amid what he describes as intense hostility from rival gangs and the city of Chicago under Emanuel.
“He had to get out of Chicago. He’s the father of drill music. A lot of political people and police didn’t like him,” said his uncle, Alonzo Cozart, adding that drill was frowned upon for its allusions to real crimes and gangbanging.
Keef said of that time, “I just felt like they were picking with me, that’s all, when I was trying to do good, do better. But that’s OK; that’s how it goes. I’m a young black mothaf—- from where I come from.”The wheels began to turn for Keef’s return to the suburbs in 2024, a year after Mayor Brandon Johnson took office. Compared to the Emanuel administration, Johnson’s regime took an open-arms approach to working with Chicago hip-hop artists, according to longtime manager Idris “Peeda Pan” Abdul-Wahid.
“Once Mayor Johnson, once he got in, that provided us the opportunity to really have a sit-down with someone that we knew would hear things out and try to work with us in whatever way we needed and have certain safeguards in place,” Abdul-Wahid said. Crisis manager Cheo Patrick, Abdul-Wahid’s adviser Marc Whitaker and his son Marc Whitaker II worked with Johnson’s senior adviser Jason Lee to clear the legal path for Keef’s return home.
Living in Los Angeles was an aspiration for Keef. The rapper said he views it as a place where people “make it.” By moving, he was able to get away from the tumultuous lifestyle in Chicago and to grow as a person, artist and businessman.
“Growing up, you see L.A., you see Hollywood on TV all the time, you think that’s when you made it when you get the hell out. Especially when you’re coming up, you’re growing up in poverty. You don’t think that the same s— that’s going on in Chicago is going on in L.A.,” said Keef. “Not only did L.A help me grow, but I had a chance to get away from the s— I was in, that’s all.”
Despite Los Angeles’s own deep history of gang culture, along with a running count of rappers being burglarized, extorted and murdered, Chief Keef has managed to steer clear of it. On top of his relentless work ethic as an artist and producer ]he said he sticks to himself, doesn’t party, and stays out of the mix. He’s also been sober since 2022.
“I don’t like to mix up. I’m from a whole ‘nother place. I know certain people; I just don’t like to mix up. I’m not on all that; I respect people from afar.”
But nowadays, he says he’s ready to move on from the City of Dreams.
“I’m tired of LA; one of these days, I’mma get the f— outta here. I’ve been here for a while, and it’s time for something new,” said Keef.
But when asked if he’s ready to come back home, considering how much he especially misses Chicago’s food, his immediate response: “S— no. Hell naw. I put in my time already.”
Keef lost many of the childhood friends and family members he started his journey with in Chicago. Along with Blood Money and his friend Capo, he lost his cousin and fellow drill pioneer Fredo Santana from a drug overdose in 2018. And right before his Summer Smash performance in 2024, his friend T-Slick was killed in Peoria.
His biggest loss came from his beloved grandmother, Margaret Louise Carter, who died in 2022. In 2005, she became his legal guardian and was with him every step of his rap career, even when she didn’t understand the music he was making at the time. In fact, she’s the first voice you hear on “Breaking Down,” the first song on his latest album, “Skeletor.”
“She was my everything. I always loved my Granny; she did a lot for me. She could have the world if I could give it to her,” he said.
Carter, a longtime bus driver, appeared in many of Keef’s music videos filmed at her house as the voice of order. In many ways, she is a muse of his music as he would sample her voice and rap about her frequently. She famously scolded Keef in a viral video of him coming from jail, yelling, “Pull your pants up; that’s what you do! That’s ugly!”
“I still do a lot of s— that I do for her. Usually, when it’s time to do something, sometimes I might not wanna do stuff. And a lot of times I think, ‘I do it for my Granny,’” said Keef.
When asked what his grandmother would say if she saw him performing at Soldier Field and starting his major tour in Chicago after the personal tragedies and legal problems, he said she would be proud.
“She would be bragging to her sisters. She would call them up and brag; she would love that s— for real. I would have picked her up and taken her with me,” he said.