Charlamagne Tha God rattled off his list of the most influential rappers of all time last week. The top four on his list included 2Pac, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne. However, the conversation led to Charlamagne explaining why he didn’t think Chief Keef belonged on that list.
“You know why I don’t put Chief Keef in there? Because Chief Keef didn’t influence like, the world,” he said. “He influenced a sound of a region. He didn’t influence the world. Those four people I named literally influenced people all over the world.”
Many people challenged Charlamagne’s assessment of Chief Keef’s influence, including G Herbo. In a recent interview with Hot 97, Herbo broke down how deep Chief Keef’s influence goes, which is quite evident in the current soundscape of hip-hop in the States and internationally.
“What Charlamagne said, he don’t feel like Sosa is one of the most influential, like, globally but I disagree,” G Herbo said. “Probably right now you don’t feel like that ‘cause you got the Drakes, the Futures. You got so many but I feel like it wouldn’t be a lot of artists if it wasn’t for Sosa. I’m talking about a lot of styles, though.”
Herb explained that there are at least 10 artists off the top of his head that he thinks have been directly influenced by Chief Keef.
As the sounds of drill seeped into the UK, Africa, and across Europe, it’s hard to deny that Chief Keef didn’t lay down a foundation that continues to resonate until this day.
