Russell Simmons Aide Would Like To Meet Chief Keef

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 11, 2012 9:20PM

Teen rapper Chief Keef is making headlines as much for his behavior as his music these days which has led some of hip hop's elder statesmen to say they'd like to chat with the kid.

The latest to say he'd like to help out Keef is the camp of rap impresario Russell Simmons. An aide to the Def Jam records founder, Michael Skolnik, said during a panel discussion on gun violence at Chicago Ideas Week he would like to "listen" to Keef.

“Russell has always encouraged — and I have as well — any person with celebrity to use it for the positive, because that’s the greatest gift you have, right?”

In recent weeks Chief Keef (real name: Keith Cozart): mocked the death of a rival rapper on Twitter (he later said his Twitter feed was hacked); was kicked off Instagram for posting a photo of him getting a blowjob; had a video interview conducted at a gun range pulled from Pitchfork; and had rapper Common offer to mediate a sit-down.

Simmons is as respected an elder figure as it gets in hip-hop, and if he or someone associated with him like Skolnik can't reach through to Keef, who can? Keef keeps falling back to the excuse that he's only making music based on the conditions of his upbringing, but he has a window of opportunity to move past the streets of Englewood.