Chief Keef Says He's Running for Chicago Mayor, Gives Out Rahm Emanuel's Phone Number

by Colin Stutz

Chief Keef’s not looking to back down from his beef with Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and, he says, his next move is running to replace the four-year officeholder.

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Keef said on Twitter Tuesday that he’s going to run for mayor of Chicago. About an hour earlier, Keef also posted a message to his fans telling them to call Emanuel and included a phone number, which directs callers to the city’s 311 directory.

The 19-year-old rapper told his followers to call the mayor and “tell him to stay the f**k off the people’s music.”

Keef had attempted to throw a concert in Chicago last week via hologram – due to two outstanding warrants for his arrest related to separate child support cases – as a benefit intended to “stop the violence” in Chicago. The goal of that show was to raise money for the families of his friend Capo, a fellow Chicago rapper who died in a shooting this month, and the 13-month-old Dillan Harris who was killed by a vehicle allegedly fleeing the scene of that shooting, but Emanuel’s office canceled the show, arguing it posed a “significant public safety risk.”

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Things escalated further Saturday night, when Keef attempted to hold another hologram concert at Craze Fest in Hammond, Ind., about 25 miles outside of Chicago. That show was canceled last minute, as well, as police rushed the stage shortly into Keef’s performance and shut it down.

“I know nothing about Chief Keef,” Hammond mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr. told the New York Times. “All I’d heard was he has a lot of songs about gangs and shooting people – a history that’s anti-cop, pro-gang and pro-drug use. He’s been basically outlawed in Chicago, and we’re not going to let you circumvent Mayor Emanuel by going next door.”

Keef and his team have said these events were intended to promote peace, contrary to Emanuel’s claims. His first words onstage in Hammond were, “If you got goals, achieve ‘em. If you got dreams, believe ‘em. Stop the violence, stop the killing, stop the nonsense. Let the kids grow up.”