@chicago sun times
Rising rap star Chief Keef belongs behind bars for his own safety, Cook County prosecutors said in juvenile court Wednesday. The Chicago singer, whose real name is Keith
Cozart, faces possible retribution for the fatal shooting last month of
up-and-coming rapper Joseph “Lil JoJo” Coleman, Cook County prosecutors
said. Chief Keef isn’t implicated in the Sept. 4 slaying
of JoJo, 18, but police are investigating whether the killing was linked
to a war of words between the two.
On Wednesday, prosecutors asked Judge Carl Anthony
Walker to put Chief Keef in juvenile detention for two alleged
violations of probation he received in an unrelated gun case. The judge
said he won’t lock up Chief Keef, 17, before he holds a hearing Nov. 20
but he added: “I really believe this minor should be placed on
electronic home monitoring.”Chicago Police officials said they wanted Chief
Keef placed in juvenile detention to protect himself and others — and to
send a message that everyone, including celebrities, must follow the
law.
“Anytime he is in Chicago, he is a potential
target and anyone around him is in jeopardy, including innocent kids,”
said Nicholas Roti, chief of the Chicago Police Department’s Organized
Crime Bureau.
“This is an example of people who are associated
with violence in Chicago who aren’t held accountable for their actions,”
Roti said. Chief Keef planned to return to California on
Wednesday, said his attorney, Dennis Berkson. He has been living on the
West Coast since JoJo was killed. Chief Keef, who’s on the same record label as rap superstar 50 Cent, is working in the studio and touring, Berkson said.
Last month, the judge approved Chief Keef’s move to
Los Angeles in an effort to protect him from violence here. Berkson
emphasized that his client is safe in California and doesn’t deserve to
be locked up in Chicago.“He has been a model young man,” said Berkson, adding that Chief Keef had nothing to do with JoJo’s “unfortunate demise.” As he left court Wednesday, Chief Keef raised his
hands in a show of victory. Earlier, he had predicted he would be
released, saying to a reporter, “It’s a piece of cake.” Late Wednesday, defiant messages were posted on Chief Keef’s Twitter account. “Prosecutors want me back in jail?! I aint
going!!!! ... IM out here tryin to get this money & they wanna stop
me from shining!!!”
During a break in the hearing, Chief Keef lingered
in a courthouse hallway, singing snippets of his raps. One young girl,
awaiting her own court hearing nearby, heard him singing, then posed
with Chief Keef and her mother for a quick iPhone photo.At one point Wednesday, he was chided by his probation officer for signing court papers “Chief Keef” instead of his real name. He wore baggy fatigues, a white T-shirt, an
oversize gold watch, new Michael Jordan gym shoes and a blue down vest
to his hearing. As he waited for his case, one woman scolded him,
saying, “Young man in the blue jacket, pull your pants up!”
He is serving 18 months of probation for pointing a gun at a Chicago cop. He was also found delinquent on two other felonies.Prosecutors argued he violated the probation by holding a rifle in an online Pitchfork video.Prosecutors pointed to the recorded promotional
interview the rapper did in June at a gun range in New York, where he
can be seen with a rifle. That’s a violation, prosecutors said, because
his probation bans him from having any guns or illegal drugs or
associating with gang members. Chief Keef also didn’t get his GED by the August deadline set in his probation — another violation, prosecutors said.Chief Keef’s attorney, Berkson, acknowledged the
gun range video was “stupid” but argued it was not his client’s fault
because he was simply listening to advice from adults.
Berkson also apologized for the delay on the GED.
He said the rapper was working on it and had switched tutors because he
was living in California recently while he was recording songs for
Interscope Records.
Prosecutors cited other aggravating factors for the
judge to consider. Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jullian
Brevard noted that on Sept. 30, Chicago Police officers responded to a
call of a gang disturbance in the 6300 block of South King Drive and
found the rapper there associating with Black Disciple gang members.
“I don’t know how he knows who is in a gang . . . and who is in the Boy Scouts,” Berkson responded.
The rapper failed to provide a current phone number
to his probation officer and was out of touch for about two weeks,
authorities added. “He is still blowing off this court. He is still
doing what he wants to do,” Brevard said, noting that his “whole image
is that he is a tough guy.”“Everybody should be treated the same,” Brevard told the judge. The concern for Chief Keef’s safety stems from a rap that JoJo posted, disrespecting the Black Disciples street gang. JoJo was a reputed member of the Gangster Disciples
and Chief Keef has shown an allegiance to the Black Disciples in his
Twitter messages and music. Members of Chief Keef’s entourage were feuding online with JoJo for months before his slaying. Hours after JoJo was killed in a drive-by shooting
in Englewood, Chief Keef’s Twitter account carried a message that
included the hashtag #LMAO, mocking his death. The acronym stands for
“laughing my ass off.”
Later, Twitter messages from the same account
denied that Chief Keef sent the message, saying his account was hacked.
Another said: “My prayers go out 2 Jojo’s family on their loss.” While police have not tied Chief Keef to JoJo’s
murder, they say it prompted JoJo’s faction of Gangster Disciples in
Englewood to lash out at the Black Disciples on another side of the
neighborhood. Detectives think at least one other killing may have
resulted from the feud since JoJo was killed, sources said.
@FRANK MAIN AND JON SEIDEL
There probably ought to be a rule against a guy like me writing about
somebody like teen rapper Chief Keef, the gulf between our worlds so
vast that there’s no way I can relate to his life experiences let alone
his music. Yet Keith Cozart, as the Englewood product is
known in real life, has crossed over, so to speak, by finding his way
into the criminal justice system, which makes him everybody’s business.
The question before us is then whether the
taxpayers of Cook County would be better served by allowing the
17-year-old Chief Keef to go on about his business of becoming The Next
Big Thing in the thug music world or instead by sending him back to
juvenile jail to teach him a lesson about respecting the law.
My first choice: Send Chief Keef to California
with his handlers from Interscope Records under the agreement that he
never come back.
Unfortunately, they tell me the law really doesn’t allow for that as an option.Second choice: Haul Jimmy Iovine, owner of
Interscope, into court to explain just how far he will go to exploit not
only the talents of this young man but also the culture of violence he
represents.
@MARK BROWN
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