Song Review-Cops by Chief Keef

by Dan-O

While on the Champs podcast (with Neal Brennan and Moshe Kasher) Detroit fire breather Danny Brown spoke glowingly of Keef and the new dimension his production gives to his music. My ears are full of the exact other kind of commentary on Keef, which made this view interesting. Most of the people I know think of Keef as six shades of shameful for reasons that range from his impact on the art to his impact on his community.

His new mixtape Back From The Dead 2 isn’t the second coming Danny Brown seemed to forecast but it could be the first brick in that new building. Its way too long clocking in at twenty full tracks, no skits, but sixteen of those were produced by the man himself. Regardless of what you think about his croaking mutter of a voice and heavily melodic slow flow this dude is YOUNG and right now he’s the most dangerous rapper in the world. Rap is a game where the most dangerous dude in the game makes a lot of money and gets a lot of exposure/chances. His turn to production provides a full opportunity for him to take a controlling interest in his music (and these beats are spooky). Cops gets infused with anger via contact with Keefs voice and it’s hard not to listen. Are his lyrics simplistic? How were yours at 18? You were Nas I’m sure.

I am in no way saying Keef is the truth. What Danny Brown might be seeing in this new music is how good Keef can be as he develops. If he can stew in the alienation and anger he’s developed while taking his artistic product seriously we could be in for some savage music. Whether we admit it or not as hip hop fans we love our savage music.