Chief Keef was sentenced to 60 days in juvenile detention on Thursday in a Cook County courtroom.
The Chicago rapper, a breakthrough star in 2012 thanks to the track “I Don’t Like,” was found in violation of his probation on a gun conviction.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Judge Carl Anthony Walker said the MC had disregarded the court orders on more than one occasion, citing a visit to a New York gun range filmed by music website Pitchfork over the summer. The video has since been removed.
“I’m sorry about all the wrong I have done,” Keef, A.K.A. Keith Cozart, told Walker, asking him to give him a chance. “I am a very good-hearted person.” His 18-month probation had been ordered after he’d pointed a gun at a policeman. The 17-year-old, previously in the custody of his uncle and grandmother, was also made a ward of the state on Thursday.
During the sentencing, the prosecution pointed to the violent lyrics of Keef’s “Love Sosa,” which his own lawyer defended as part of his rap persona.
“It doesn’t mean he was doing it,” Keef’s attorney, Dennis Berkson, told the court, according to the Chicago Reader. In his defense, Keef also told the judge he’s “almost complete” with his GED.
“And the person people are trying to make me out to be is not who I am,” he said, reportedly becoming visibly emotional during his speech.
His major label debut, “Finally Rich,” bowed with 50,000 copies sold in December, peaking at No. 29 on the Billboard 200.