Daniel Shea

thefader:

FEATURE: CHIEF KEEF AND THE LOST BOYS

“Of all the things people said about Keef during my time in Chicago, what I heard most often was, ‘We’re dealing with a 16-year-old kid here.’ The statement was echoed like a mantra in an effort to process Keef’s unpredictability. He’s a 16-year-old kid who’ll soon be responsible for the livelihood of a number of full-grown adults, if he isn’t already. He comes from a broken family and hasn’t finished high school, although I am told he’s begun working with a tutor. The people around him may be trying their best, but it’s clear someone stopped raising him long before he needed to be finished being raised. What kind of monster will he become if and when he sees some real money and can’t go out in public without being mobbed? Or when he stops being one of the guys and more closely resembles a target to the very people he used to call friends?”

I’ll have an edit of this work up soon, but for now, here’s the full spread that is in the current issue of The Fader. Major thanks to my dogg Geordie Wood for assigning such an awesome story, and to Keef, Louie, and all the dudes and ladies that let me in for those weeks in early summer. <3