There’s no denying that Chief Keef is everywhere right now — and a local author has decided to look deeper into the phenomenon. Chicago poet, activist and teacher, Kevin Coval is set to release his book, More Shit That Chief Keef Don’t Like, in October via Haymarket Books. The book is a collection of poetry composed by Coval that’s set to address the controversy surrounding the young rapper. Coval states:
Every institution in Chicago fails Black youth. Segregated and systematically inequitable, Chicago is a town where white kids exist in an increasingly idyllic new urban utopia, and Black and Latino kids weave and dodge through a war zone. The largest specter in the spectacle and circus that surrounds the city, Chief Keef has become its poster boy and scapegoat. He is a young man who looks and sounds like thousands of young people in Chicago—reared in a culture of nihilism, death, and capitalism. He is a young man who sings the demented measures and results of white supremacy, the legacy and maintenance of grand inequity. Chief Keef sings a tortured and tormented Chicago song. It is a song we need to listen to carefully.
You can preorder the book right here. Kevin is also having a release party for More Shit That Chief Keef Don’t Like on 10/19 at the Young Chicago Authors headquarters in Chicago, details of which can be found here.
You can preview one of the songs Kevin put together in support of the project, and read an excerpt entitled “Gucci Store” below.
why Chief Keef doesn’t like fake Gucci
the low end to the gold coast is 6.7 miles.
the first time downtown
a field trip. a walk past stores
like cages, a zoo, keeping something
in, something out. Gucci at 900
N. Michigan, the northern most
tip of the magnificent mile.
the employees are models,
smell like commercials
for some american
dream. to even walk in
takes confidence. the store’s
facade; intimidatingly exclusive
illegal. illusive, the least
expensive item; a $120 money clip
lit in a case; a museum, a distant
hope. Keef keeps
a stash spot in a forgotten
corner of the closet, some place
his grandma won’t dream
of going. he doesn’t
want her thinking the worst
or worse feel the couch
she wraps
in plastic was less than
the belt he bought next.
four hundred bucks on this
just to be like you ain’t
up on this each
purchase, a prom-
ise, a future more
gold coast secure
than streets on the east
side of a city that won’t
even claim it has an east side
gold coast.
ivory coast.
on the low end
fake gucci is bootleg and link card
the only people who got real shit
are those who could leave.
his wishes are simple:
some crib
for his grandma.
some felt slippers
with the red stripe.
a polo for 3hunna
this is not extravagant
when you on
the northern most
tip of the gold coast
looking back
at the lowend
like you at the head
of a tombstone
like you an attendant
at a poor man’s funeral
funny that kevin koval grew up on da north shore, rich, and went to new trier.
Haha, just came across this. Dis shit funny as hell. Kevin a white privileged dude from the burbs trying hard to get acceptance by associating himself with Keef and coming to his defense. Lame ass. You got a book about Keef trying to ride the wave. See thru ass nuhg.