Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), known professionally as Chief Keef, is an American rapper and record producer. Beginning his career as a teenager, he gained regional recognition for his mixtapes in the early 2010s. Cozart has since been credited with popularizing the hip hop subgenre drill among mainstream audiences and is considered a progenitor of the genre. His fifth mixtape, Back from the Dead (2012), spawned the single "I Don't Like" (featuring Lil Reese), which became his first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100. A bidding war among several major labels led to Cozart signing with Interscope Records, which commercially re-released the song alongside its follow-up, "Love Sosa"; the latter received quintuple platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Both served as lead singles for his debut studio album, Finally Rich (2012), which received moderate critical and commercial reception, and remains his only release on a major label. His subsequent studio albums—Bang 3 (2015), Bang 3, Pt. 2 (2015), 4Nem (2021), and Almighty So 2 (2024)—each entered the Billboard 200 as independent releases. He has also achieved two top-40 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 through guest appearances on Lil Uzi Vert's 2020 song "Bean (Kobe)" and Drake's 2023 song "All the Parties".
