Chief Keef
Back from the Dead 2
Album · Hip-Hop/Rap · 2014
Coming on the heels of the experimental Almighty So, Chief Keef’s 2014 mixtape Back from the Dead 2 finds the rapper taking an even bolder step in a new direction. Mainstream interest in Keef was at a low ebb at the time of its Halloween release, which didn’t seem to trouble the rapper, who used the opportunity to show off his ever-evolving production chops. The development made sense for an artist who’d spent the past year practicing a song-making style that seemed to purposefully obscure itself.
Sosa on the Beat was no Young Chop, but he shows bursts of promise on Back from the Dead 2, with a smudgy, distorted method of building a mood. Among the tape’s 16 self-produced tracks is “Faneto”, a gothic-sounding banger that, among its memorable warnings, includes a threat to blow up the state of New Jersey. Many listeners had long since written off Keef as a hitmaker, but over the course of the next year, “Faneto” would gain steam as an underground anthem and earn its place as one of the biggest, most beloved hits of the rapper’s career.