Song #69: Chief Keef - "Kay Kay"

Song #69: Chief Keef - "Kay Kay" (2012)

Finally Rich

"Money called, I'm comin'; can't miss that shit for nothin'." 

I called Chief Keef's underrated track "Kay Kay" his "tour de force" track in my first blog post on him and still find it to be a thoroughly complete rap song, hard-hitting, effective, and a damn-near good representation of what Keef is about and how he sees himself in the world. Named after his daughter, "Kay Kay" illustrates Chief Keef's ideas about rap, his life, his music, and most importantly, his grind, talking about how he still "balls" with his niggas and his impulsive lifestyle of "I see it, I want it, I bought it." If there were ever a rap song about how a rapper sees himself in the world and how he deals with life, it's "Kay Kay" and another song by Keef you'll see at a later date.

"Kay Kay" is a song that fittingly represents my junior year in high school about as well as Keef's "Got Them Bands" (number ninety-eight on this list") helped me represent and celebrate me being nominated and eventually winning Homecoming King my senior year of high school. One can disrespect and belittle the song for its incoherent nature, Keef's mumbling lyrics, and its reliance on production over lyricism, all of which make for valid arguments against the song's quality. However, the song's personal effect on me is just as immense as the presence it makes for itself, dark, brooding, and with a cold, detached sense of reality, much like the life Keef has likely endured living in the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago.

While I will not even begin to say my experiences are an eight of what Keef experienced in Parkway Gardens, a housing sector in Chicago, I will say that "Kay Kay" gives me a rush like one wouldn't believe. It makes me want to keep my friends closer, helps me recount on everywhere I've been on the social ladder in my life, and gives provides me with some of the coolest feelings a rap song can. I wouldn't be surprised if on your first listen, you'd be hardpressed to understand a full sentence, due to Keef's style of rapping. Lucky for you, I linked the video with lyrics.

Give "Kay Kay" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUAdfgdIzN0