Speaker 1: What's up you guys. Welcome back to Crash Course Pot,
Speaker 1: the music podcast for music heads by a music head,
Speaker 1: and we're not just talking about a trend or a moment. Today,
Speaker 1: we're talking about a structural tectonic shift and hip hop.
Speaker 1: We are deep diving into the man who changed the
Speaker 1: sound of rap forever. You might know him by the
Speaker 1: name of Chief Keif. Others know him by the name
Speaker 1: of Sosa. So that's our topic before we get into it.
Speaker 1: As you know, we released two episodes today. I felt
Speaker 1: bad that we skipped the weekend, so today Monday, we
Speaker 1: released the previous one on K pop check it out
Speaker 1: after this one if you haven't already. And now we're
Speaker 1: into this topic of Chief Keef and his undeniable influence.
Speaker 1: What motivated this episode, Well, every so often when I'm
Speaker 1: on YouTube, there would be certain shorts involving Chief Keef
Speaker 1: and the comments are all like, no Chief Keef slander
Speaker 1: will be tolerated. They know all the inside jokes, from
Speaker 1: saying he's three hundred years old to naming certain things,
Speaker 1: which we'll get into later in this episode. But it's
Speaker 1: just crazy how he is God to some people. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to discover, I mean, dive deep and talk
Speaker 1: about it with you guys. So let's get into it,
Speaker 1: shall we. Before twenty twelve, mainstream wrap had a different
Speaker 1: cadence and texture. Then a raw, unfiltered disruption BLOWDD from
Speaker 1: Chicago's South Side and nothing was the same. Chief Keef
Speaker 1: is universally credited as the figure who took Chicago drill
Speaker 1: music global drill. What is drill? For those of you
Speaker 1: that don't know, It's defined by its ominous, heavy, and
Speaker 1: often confrontational beats that give voice to marginalized street experience.
Speaker 1: It's the hood lallaby baby, no kidding, but it's hood
Speaker 1: talk very much hood talk over aggressive beats, if I
Speaker 1: use my own words. So there were two anthems from
Speaker 1: that area that just blew up everywhere and that I
Speaker 1: don't like. Featuring low Reese. This track blew up locally
Speaker 1: via YouTube videos and family famously caused the attention of
Speaker 1: Kanye West, whose Good Music remix propelled Sosa into the
Speaker 1: mainstream spotlight online overnight. I know you guys know the
Speaker 1: name of the song. I know that's that I don't
Speaker 1: like a see I can't say it because I have
Speaker 1: to like bleet myself, but fill in the blanks. Ummmm,
Speaker 1: I don't like then we have another one, Loves Sosa,
Speaker 1: the definitive, atmospheric and hypnotic track that cemented his sound,
Speaker 1: hitting the Billboard Hot one hundred and popularizing his nickname Sosa,
Speaker 1: which is a reference to the scarface character Alejandro Sosa.
Speaker 1: You cannot separate Sosa's rise from the foundation laid by
Speaker 1: key producers of this era, primarily Young Chop, whose heavy,
Speaker 1: distinct beats layered with dark synthpads and aggressive percussion were
Speaker 1: inseparable from Sosa's initial sound. The esthetics, let's talk about
Speaker 1: that flow vibe and the internet host. Sosa's delivery fundamentally
Speaker 1: broke the mold of traditional lyrical rap, and that is
Speaker 1: his most enduring legacy. His delivery was often characterized by
Speaker 1: a repetitive, dead eyed, detached, offbeat and slurred style. And
Speaker 1: I say all this as commendation. Critics initially dismissed it
Speaker 1: as mumble rap, but it was a deliberate artistic choice,
Speaker 1: prioritizing mood or vibes, texture and vibe over intricate rhythm
Speaker 1: schemes that a flow melodies did? I say it right
Speaker 1: after his major label deal. SOSA sound evolved, notably in
Speaker 1: projects like Almighty so I think it was released in
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. Don't sue me. I have been in and
Speaker 1: out of this career of his, so I had to
Speaker 1: rely heavily on people that are like absolute stands and fans,
Speaker 1: and honestly, I put my own music reputation on the
Speaker 1: line because I didn't know a lot of this, and
Speaker 1: they're like, what, you don't know, You don't know, You're
Speaker 1: not a real music It's like, dude, calm down. I
Speaker 1: just need you to look over this and make sure
Speaker 1: my stats about SOSA is correct. So I think Almighty
Speaker 1: Soa came out in twenty thirteen. Don't kill me if
Speaker 1: it's not. But you know, so here he leaned into hard.
Speaker 1: He leaned hard into the melodic, almost singing style, often
Speaker 1: soaked in auto tune, that is now the default mode
Speaker 1: for nearly every modern rapper. Keith also pioneered using lo
Speaker 1: fi authentic YouTube music video shot under house arrests to
Speaker 1: market his music. Crucially, he popularized street slang that is
Speaker 1: now in hip hop everywhere, like thought and the entire
Speaker 1: Oh someone also said glow up, but then that's contradictory
Speaker 1: or con when is that word. It's up for debate
Speaker 1: because some say he didn't. He didn't pioneer the word
Speaker 1: glow up, and some say he did. So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to throw that in there, but thought for sure
Speaker 1: and smoking on and then enter an OPS name pack.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say the OPS name because I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm not in that beef, so I'm not smoking on
Speaker 1: that pack. But like if I was, I was gonna
Speaker 1: throw an OP name for myself. Yeah, let's do it,
Speaker 1: like like i'd be like smoking on a George pack,
Speaker 1: smoking on a Josh pack. You know That's what I'd say.
Speaker 1: And I just threw in some random names for anybody listening.
Speaker 1: I have no ups and I have no beefs. If
Speaker 1: you guys wanted to say about me, say smoking on
Speaker 1: an ASH pack. So the most compelling part of Social's
Speaker 1: legacy is the sheer number of artists who credit him
Speaker 1: as a primary influence. He is the foundational between early
Speaker 1: twenty ten trap and the current SoundCloud e Mumbo psychedelic
Speaker 1: Rap landscape. I honestly would say he's like all of
Speaker 1: these underground rappers are his sons. Like between him and Carti,
Speaker 1: and I don't even know if he influenced Carti or not.
Speaker 1: The between Sosa and Playbar Cardi. All of these underground
Speaker 1: rappers are are their sons. That's how influential their style
Speaker 1: and delivery is. Current chart toppers openly acknowledge his influence.
Speaker 1: Some say lo Uzi vert I would agree was heavily
Speaker 1: heavily influenced by Chief's melodic and psychedelic soundscapes. A true
Speaker 1: music head detail. Chief Keif produced the beat for Uzi's
Speaker 1: track Chromhart's tag on Eternal A Take. Where did I
Speaker 1: get that fact? It's literally on Facebook. There's like a
Speaker 1: gift of Chief Keif on on production equipment and it
Speaker 1: says Chief Keif in the zone working on the Chrome
Speaker 1: Hearts tag beat for lil Uzi Vert's Eternal A Take album.
Speaker 1: So I didn't pull that stat out of my A
Speaker 1: Double Snakes. That's history, baby, anyways, another person that he's
Speaker 1: influenced some would say, some would say I don't want
Speaker 1: these artists coming for me and saying no, it's not true.
Speaker 1: But some would say twenty one Savage, his cold, detached
Speaker 1: and menacing persona and vocal delivery are a direct inheritance
Speaker 1: of the early drill sound. Playboy Cardi. His entire esthetic,
Speaker 1: from the use of ad libs as rhythmic elements to
Speaker 1: prioritizing a hypnotic vibe over complex lyricism, is a clear
Speaker 1: descendant of Keith's mid twenty tens output. I get so
Speaker 1: insecure saying these things because other music heads would want
Speaker 1: to fight me on it and said, no, that's not true.
Speaker 1: But I believe it's true, and I'm standing on it.
Speaker 1: I'm standing on this hill. Sosay's influence is the blueprint
Speaker 1: for global rap subgenres. UK Drill and NYE Drill both
Speaker 1: built their sonic foundations directly on the esthetic and beat
Speaker 1: style of Chicago Drill. His post Innerscope work, especially his
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen mixtape Back from the Dead two, was that
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen I Hope So he produced nearly every
Speaker 1: beat himself. This was a sonic experimentation that proved he
Speaker 1: was more concerned with vibe than meaning, and production is
Speaker 1: his most efficient tool to create a mood. So let's
Speaker 1: spend the block a little bit on the producer engine.
Speaker 1: Let's expand on that. Because Young Chop was dominant force
Speaker 1: in his major label area. But my sources also credit
Speaker 1: producer dj Kin for laying the initial groundwork and collaborating
Speaker 1: with Sosa on his earlier mixtapes like Bang and Glory
Speaker 1: Road Road. So, if you want to get your pans out,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to give you individual songs, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have you just write down the entire back from
Speaker 1: the Dead tape released in twenty fourteen. So I think
Speaker 1: why because you can listen to where he produced nearly
Speaker 1: every track for himself. It's either under Soso or Turbo,
Speaker 1: and he pioneered what some critics would call dungeon synthrap.
Speaker 1: What is that? A bizarre experimental sound used medieval synths, choirs,
Speaker 1: and pan flutes, And that's a move that pushed him
Speaker 1: past the limits of mainstream rap and became the blueprint
Speaker 1: for the psychedelic, almost horror core influenced trap that followed.
Speaker 1: So I want you guys to listen to that and
Speaker 1: tell me, am I right? Like I know I am,
Speaker 1: But listen to it and you'll really hear that dungeon
Speaker 1: synth rap as they call it. Fineto, Am I saying
Speaker 1: it right? Fineto from that era, which is Moody has
Speaker 1: a moody synth line practically cemented the drill sound that
Speaker 1: dominates the charts today. Also, we have his melodic experimentation
Speaker 1: on later projects like thought Breaker. I think that was
Speaker 1: released in twenty seventeen, and that's where he showed vulnerability
Speaker 1: and utilized auto tuned, almost love lorn harmonies. And it
Speaker 1: can even be seen as a direct precursor to the
Speaker 1: overlay sacrime. Am I saying that right? Sachrime, melodic and
Speaker 1: digitally warped aesthetic of the modern hyper pop If we
Speaker 1: zoom back for a bit, well, let me finish this
Speaker 1: thought first. So between the hyper pop connection and the
Speaker 1: Dungeon synth rap, you'll see I'm not glazing when I
Speaker 1: say he's an archetype. These are examples of the architectural
Speaker 1: design of how he influenced modern day hip hop, rap, trap,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, drill specifically in this
Speaker 1: modern time. Now, let's back up. Let's back up to
Speaker 1: the ad libs. What is chief Keef aka so so known?
Speaker 1: Most for I would argue and say ad libs, ad
Speaker 1: libs like Bang and Gang Gang, they weren't just background noise,
Speaker 1: they were infectious rhythmic elements woven into the track that
Speaker 1: punctuated his sparse lyrical style. This concept using the ad
Speaker 1: lib as a core part of the beats percussion is
Speaker 1: now a staple across trap music. Everyone does it. I
Speaker 1: don't know where the I think the Migos came out after.
Speaker 1: Did they come out after? Because they do that almost
Speaker 1: everyone does that, and I never really heard that being
Speaker 1: done as much as much and so a Chief keep song.
Speaker 1: So I won't say the Migos copied. I will say
Speaker 1: they commercialized and systematized the ad libs that Keith pioneered
Speaker 1: in a way. So yeah, Migos gets the credit for
Speaker 1: their innovation, and Chief Keith gets the credit for laying
Speaker 1: the core structural foundation to be fair, to be fair.
Speaker 1: Another final final detail is some will call him the
Speaker 1: soundcout catalyst. His willingness to give away music on sites
Speaker 1: like YouTube and earlier platforms heavily influenced the SoundCloud rapper era.
Speaker 1: Paved the way for artists like Low Pump and Chaps
Speaker 1: to chance the rapper who built massive followings through independent
Speaker 1: online reces releases bypassing traditional gatekeepers. I didn't know that,
Speaker 1: but apparently that's what he did. Pave the way for
Speaker 1: releasing on your own merit without the gatekeepers. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: So I guess you could say Chief Keep's influence is structural.
Speaker 1: He's arguably had greater direct impact on the sound of
Speaker 1: contemporary rap than any other artists since the late two thousands.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's pretty much my spill. For more episodes,
Speaker 1: feel free to look back. All the details are below
Speaker 1: and the description. If you want more content, click the
Speaker 1: links below. Go to our family website. Listen to our
Speaker 1: other podcast that is talking about nostalgia this season, season seven,
Speaker 1: and I will catch you guys on our schedule time
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday. Ain't