Did Chief Keef Get Sent to Jail Over Pitchfork's Gun Stunt?

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Update, 4:00pm, January 17th: Chief Keef has been sentenced to two months in the Illinois Youth Center of St. Charles, Illinois. Keef's manager  Idris "Peeda Pan" Abdul Wahid confirmed that Keef will begin serving time right away. "The City of Chicago got what they want," he told Complex's David Drake. "We done been to hell and back already, so shit ain't nothing."

Original post: Time to add #FreeChiefKeef to the lexicon of hip hop hashtags. The young Chicago rapper was jailed yesterday for violating his probation, and—bizarrely enough—the music taste-makers at Pitchfork might've helped put him behind bars. Keef (birth name: Keith Cozart) was sent to jail after a judge ruled that he violated the terms of his probation by waving a gun around in a promotional video for the music website Pitchfork. Cozart—the 17-year-old leader of a very real and often violent new rap genre that recently emerged from Chicago called drill—is now in custody at a Cook County juvenile holding facility, according to The Chicago Tribune's Jeremy Gorner. He'll be sentenced tomorrow. 

The video in question took place at a gun range in New York, with Keef carrying a gun in parts of the interview and freestyle session. Pitchfork removed it after receiving complaints that it glorified gun violence. "This concept was rushed and never should have happened," editor Mark Richardson wrote at the time. Chicago has witnessed a surge in youth gun violence over the last few years, and teenage rappers like Chief Keef's rival Lil Jojo have been among those killed by shootings. 

This isn't the first time Keef has had trouble abiding by the terms of the 18-month probation he received for pointing a gun at a Chicago cop back in 2011. A few weeks ago he was brought before a judge for allegedly moving out of the city to a big house in the suburbs of Northbrook. But the court ruled that there was no credible evidence he'd established a new residency (forbidden under the terms of his probation), so he was allowed to walk free. Playing with guns (with Pitchfork egging him on) apparently crossed the line, though. Listen to the second single off Chief Keef's well received debut album Finally Rich below. 

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.