Chief Keef has more arrests on his record than he has proper records.
Before we could digest the infamous Chicago rapper's appearance on "Hold My Liquor" from Kanye West's new Yeezus, the 17-year-old, whose legal name is Keith Cozart, pled guilty today to a speeding violation. The authorities took the opportunity to slap Cozart with his second paternity suit and to arrest him on a misdemeanor trespassing charge just minutes after the emcee exited the Skokie courthouse. These are the latest additions to the growing rap sheet of a teen who's had way more run-ins with the law than run-ins with the singles chart.
January 27, 2011: Cozart is arrested and charged with a Class X felony for manufacturing and delivering heroin. The delinquent, then just 15 year old, serves time on home confinement.
December 2, 2011: Responding to a shots-fired call near 61st Street and Michigan Avenue, police end up in a half-block foot chase with Cozart, who is packing a loaded handgun. According to the police report, the 16-year-old pointed the gun twice at the officers and the officers fired two shots but missed. Once in custody, Cozart is charged with four felonies—three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm on a police officer and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon—as well as one misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest. He's sentenced to home confinement.
September 5, 2012: Joseph Coleman, 18, better known as the rapper Lil Jojo—a rival of Cozart's emcee friend Lil Reese—is gunned down on the South Side. Cozart taunted on Twitter the next day: "It’s sad cus … Jojo wanted to be just like us #LMAO." Police investigated a possible connection between Cozart and his crew and Coleman's homicide, but no charges were filed.
January 2, 2013: Just weeks after releasing his debut album, Finally Rich, Cozart is back in court. Did he violate probation by moving to the North Shore suburb of Northbrook without properly informing authorities? Juvenile Court Judge Carl Anthony Walker rules that he wasn't presented "any credible evidence." Cozart's lawyer argues his client had been spending a lot of time recording in the suburban home–studio of his manager.
February 19, 2013: Cozart is sentenced to 60 days in juvenile detention for violating his probation stemming from the previous gun conviction; Keef had gone to a New York gun range and reportedly was videoed holding a rifle during an interview with Pitchfork Media. “I am a very good-hearted person,” Cozart tells the judge at sentencing. “I am sorry for anything that I have done wrong. ... Give me a chance.” The emcee leaves the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles on March 14.
April 17, 2013: A judge orders Cozart to make a monthly $2,600 child-support payment (plus $500 for daycare) to Jasmine Woodford, 18, who is raising the one-year-old the rapper fathered.
May 20, 2013: Cozart is arrested for disorderly conduct for smoking marijuana at the Le Meridien Atlanta Perimeter hotel in Dunwoody, Georgia. Hotel security alerts police after smelling pot coming from the rapper's room.
June 17, 2013: Cozart pleads guilty to doing 110 mph in a 55-mph zone on the Edens Expressway in May while behind the wheel of a 2011 BMW X6 M. It didn't help that the 17-year-old only has his learner's permit. Cozart's punishment: a $531 fine, 18 months of probation, 60 hours of community service, random drug tests and eight hours of traffic school. "I think you think you're invincible, and you're certainly not," said Cook County Circuit Court Judge Earl Hoffenberg. "Violate [conditions of the plea agreement] and you'll find out you're not. … I sure hope I don't see you again, because if I do you better be ready to go to jail." Cozart is also served with a second paternity suit, and minutes after leaving the Skokie courthouse, he's arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
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