Take away the money, fame, and accolades, and you could argue Chief Keef has one of the most ideal setups for an artist purely focused on creativity.
He made his debut at 16—first as a local hood star in Chicago, then a nationwide leader in the bubbling drill scene. And by the time he was 17, he was in the major-label system, signing what looked like, on paper, a lucrative deal with Interscope. He dropped an expensive debut that got plenty of attention, only to watch it underperform. A mix of personal issues, public snafus, label mishandling, and an aggressive press cycle led to him being dropped and left to fend for himself.
But that’s when things got interesting. Freed from industry constraints and living in Los Angeles—far from the South Side of Chicago—Keef became a mad scientist, recording and releasing music at an aggressive pace. He started experimenting with melody, song structure, production, and vocal techniques. In the process, he evolved into not only one of the best rappers of his generation but also a cult figure whose influence can be heard in nearly every superstar of the last decade. This was all before he turned 30.
Even on lesser or forgettable projects, there’s almost always a high point to pull from. That’s why ranking a catalog like this can get tricky—some of these projects are separated only by degrees. And Sosa is such a cult figure that it wouldn’t be surprising if someone’s No. 1 landed in another person’s bottom five. For this list, we counted albums, mixtapes, and EPs, but left out the Leek and Glo Files projects since they’re more like compilations than proper complete thoughts.
Here are Chief Keef’s 30 best projects, ranked.
Chief Keef & Gucci Mane, ‘Big Gucci Sosa’ (2014)
Big Gucci Sosa was emblematic of a time when Chief Keef and his rap influence, Gucci Mane, dominated the online mixtape game through their sheer output of music. On this tape, Keef comes across as a toned-down version of himself, while Gucci dominates. Not as memorable overall, but tracks like the Metro Boomin–produced “First Day of School” and “Darker” stand out. —Mark Braboy
Cook LaFlare & Chief Keef, ‘Cook Sosa’ (2017)
From Coi Leray to NBA YoungBoy to Lil Uzi Vert, Chief Keef has done some spot production for other artists over the years. However, back in 2017, Keef produced an entire album for a rapper from Cincinnati, Ohio named Cook LaFlare, who has faced a number of legal struggles since. Keef makes a few appearances, but lyrically the tape is mostly LaFlare and he’s not the most dynamic rapper in the world. Still, it’s an interesting project thanks to Keef’s atmospheric production. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Nobody 2’ (2015)
What do we call Nobody, Chief Keef’s link-up with producer 12Million (formerly known as 12Hunna)? Is it part of a series or just a one off? The day after Nobody 2 was released by 12Million, Keef went on Twitter to distance himself, calling it “unauthorized business again,” which might explain the shoddy, slapped-together feel throughout. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Ottopsy’ (2018)
Released out of nowhere just a couple of weeks after he was shot at in New York City, Ottopsy is one of Sosa’s shortest projects—and maybe his least consequential. “Water Resort” stands out, though, with Keef having fun with a stop-and-go flow over an unorthodox DP Beats heater. .—Dimas Sanfiorezno
Chief Keef & DJ Kenn Aon, ‘The Glory Road’ (2011)
One of the key figures in Chief Keef’s early years was DJ Kenn Aon, who, at just 20, moved from Japan to Chicago’s South Side without knowing any English. He met a young Sosa and became the driving force behind the pre-Bang tapes. Most of the early Keef stuff isn’t essential unless you’re a completist. Still, young Keef can be interesting in spurts, putting his own generic spin on popular Southern trends of the late 2010s. This tape is notable because it features some of the earliest raps from figures like SD, Fredo Santana, and Lil Reese. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘The Cozar’t (2018)
The Cozart was teased for years before dropping somewhat unexpectedly in 2015. It has some strong moments, including an excellent intro, “Here Ye,” but also contains baffling choices—most notably several EDM tracks, with a remix of the unreleased “Soldier” easily belonging on the Mount Rushmore of WOAT Sosa songs.—Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Bang 3, Pt. 2’ (2015)
About a month after dropping Bang 3, he followed up with a part two—an uneven mix of leftovers that didn’t measure up to the original. Also…maybe this one should have been called Bang 3.5 or whatever. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
Chief Keef & Zaytoven, ‘Camp GloTiggy’ (2016)
During the mid to late ‘90s, Zaytoven was on an incredible run, contributing to standout projects with the likes of Future, Shy Glizzy, Boosie Badazz, and more. That’s why it’s disappointing that Camp GloTiggy, his first full-length collaboration with Sosa, feels underwhelming—though “Spy Kid” is a fun track with an even better video.—Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘The W’ (2017)
Clocking in at 30 minutes, The W is one of Keef’s most straightforward tapes, sticking to the script sonically. It embraces a “less is more” approach, delivering a concise set of solid bangers. While it may not rank among his all-time classics compared to other projects from the same year, tracks like the Zaytoven-produced “Hot” and “Never Had a Job”—one of the last songs to feature his late cousin and fellow drill pioneer Fredo Santana—make The W standout. —Mark Braboy
‘Mansion Musick’ (2018)
The highlight of Mansion Musick comes in hearing the baby ad-libs Keef and Playboi Carti trade over Pi’erre Bourne’s warbly beat on “Uh Uh.” Aside from a few other spacey, auto-tuned standouts like “Tragedies” and “Hand Made,” there’s a lot of filler here, which means it doesn’t crack the top 20 of his catalog. —Antonio Johri
‘Finally Rollin 2’ (2015)
This is technically the sequel to Keef’s debut album, Finally Rich, though for some unclear reason—was he scared of the label? Or maybe because producer Young Chop put out an album called Finally Rich Too—Keef didn’t go that route, subtly switching the title. It’s a solid tape, featuring a mix of freestyles (like Keef sliding over Jeezy’s “Who Dat”) and standout new tracks such as “Foes.” —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Two Zero One Seven’ (2017)
Two Zero One Seven finds Chief Sosa flexing a full range of flows he’s adopted, channeling down-south influences like Project Pat and Gucci Mane on tracks such as “Knock It Off” and “Short” with Tadoe. I would argue this is his most experimental mixtape since the original Almighty So, though its direction is entirely different, shaped by his life in Los Angeles rather than Chicago. —Mark Braboy
Chief Keef and Mike WiLL Made-It, ‘Dirty Nachos’ (2024)
These are Dirty Nachos, not reheated nachos. When the music on this album is humming, it means Mike WiLL Made-It’s buzzing 808s and sharp percussion are locking in perfectly with Keef’s sparse flows—especially on tracks like “BEWARE OF DOGS” and “PLAYER IN ME.” —Antonio Johri
Chief Keef & Zaytoven, ‘GloToven’ (2019)
Now this is a proper Keef and Zaytoven tape. Fresh off going viral with his Tiny Desk appearance, Zaytoven brings that same finesse here, giving Keef some of the cleanest production of his career—from the airy flutes on “F What The Opp Said” to the gorgeous piano on the touching “Ain’t Gonna Happen.” —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Bang 3’ (2015)
There are some real hitters here—songs like “Green Light,” “Laurel Canyon,” and, of course, the hilariously goofy “Singing To The Cheese.” That said, I do think it’s a step down from some of the stuff Keef was doing at the time, especially considering it came just a couple of months after Almighty DP, which is far superior. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
Chief Keef & DP Beats, ‘Almighty DP 2’
In 2014, DP Beats—a young producer from North Carolina who had been emailing Chief Keef some of his most sonically progressive beats, including the street classic “Tec”—flew out to LA to meet him. He ended up staying for four months. The two Almighty DP albums, coordinated and released by DP Beats, marked the end point of their run. These projects weren’t meticulously planned, but rather captured a moment when both artists were rising creatively. Part 2 isn’t as strong as the first (which was revelatory), but it’s still a worthwhile listen. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Back From The Dead 3’ (2018)
Chief Keef fans have a long history with the third project in his classic trilogy. First announced in 2015, it was repeatedly delayed before finally arriving on Halloween 2018—just like part two. And, as with many trilogies, the third installment is the weakest: a project that’s more interesting than it is consistently great. To his credit, Keef experiments with a range of flows—sometimes successfully, as on the patient “Black Proud” and the busy-sounding “What It Be Like,” and sometimes less so, as with the exhausting “Bestie.” —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Bang’ (2011)
The dawn of the 2010s marked the beginnings of Chicago drill, with rappers like King Louie as its de facto faces. Then Bang changed everything. At the time, Chief Keef was still a teenager fresh out of Dyett High School. Its title track—paired with electrifying visuals featuring a young Lil Reese and Lil Durk—ignited a blaze across Chicago and ushered in a wilder, younger generation of local artists. —Mark Braboy
‘Nobody’ (2014)
Not sure what the status of Keef and 12Million’s relationship is—they haven’t put out anything since the Nobody 2 snafu—but their first album together is a legit gem in Sosa’s catalog. At 12 tracks, the tape feels breezy, especially compared to the epic, dark nature of his releases that year (Back From the Dead 2 dropped just a couple months earlier). At the center of the album are two of Keef’s more emotional tracks: the melancholy “Hard” and the warm, title-track collab with Kanye West. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Thot Breaker’ (2017)
Chief Keef’s Thot Breaker stands out as one of the more eccentric mixtapes in his catalog, featuring a collection of love songs and melodic hip-hop tracks. Keef and Young Chop venture into outrageous territory with “Can You Be My Friend,” while “Couple of Coats” showcases Keef’s refined musical swagger at a time when 2017 marked his lyrical peak. The project is also notable for being the least violent he’s ever been on wax, leaning fully into the Chicago lover-boy persona. —Mark Braboy
‘4NEM’ (2021)
In 2021, Chief Keef was on a path to musical revitalization. 4NEM was his first full-length album since Bang 3 and his first of the new decade. Despite young-pioneer status, Keef didn’t rest on his laurels. On the standout track “Bitch Where,” he raps: “Made it out the Chi’, if I didn’t, wouldn’t see today / It’s a setback every time I see the cage,” closing with a message from his late granny. It’s a perfect setup for the album’s ambitious tone. While “Hadouken,” where he spits over Young Buck’s “Stomp,” proves why Keef is one of rap’s most underrated lyricists. —Mark Braboy
‘Sorry 4 the Weight’ (2015)
A play on Lil Wayne’s classic mixtape, Chief Keef’s Sorry For The Weight marks a point where Keef’s rapping evolves once again. On this tape, Sosa raps with more clarity while still keeping his hilariously unorthodox style. The menacing “Sosa Chamberlain” became one of his all-time classics, while “Hot Shit” delivers one of the funniest moments, featuring Andy Milonakis pulling up to spit some “bars.” —Mark Braboy
‘Almighty So 2’ (2024)
More than a decade after the original dropped, Keef tries to recapture the magic and comes surprisingly close. This time, he gets a lot. Standouts include “Banded Up,” where his laid-back flows contrast with Tierra Whack’s rapid-fire double-time delivery, and “Grape Trees,” where he and Sexyy Red trade verses over off-kilter snare rolls. —Antonio Johri
Chief Keef & DP Beats, ‘Almighty DP’ (2015)
We mentioned in the intro that we purposely left out the Leek and Glo tapes, but we’re making an exception for the two Almighty DP projects. The series is canon—too important to Keef’s trajectory to ignore. It’s not clear how much Keef himself stood behind these tapes (since they were coordinated and released by DP Beats), but their purpose is undeniable: documenting the most transformative creative year of his career. Tracks like “MCM,” “Don’t Love Her,” and “Wet” are carried by DP’s transfixing, almost sci-fi production.
Over time, Keef became increasingly self-reliant, producing much of his own music. The general consensus is that he picked up the game by fucking with DP, something the producer foresaw back in 2015: “Motherfuckers was telling me, ‘Don’t show him how to make beats, then he gonna take it, he ain’t gonna need you anymore.’ I’m like, ‘Well, if he do that, he do it.’” —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Bang, Pt. 2’ (2013)
If you weren’t listening to rap in 2013, you can’t fully appreciate how funny a song called “12 Bars” was. At a time when rapper dexterity was still highly valued, Keef opened Bang Pt. 2 with a track of ad-libs before dropping a quick verse and moving on. A little slept on at its release, Bang Pt. 2 is probably one of the more important albums for understanding his transition. In many ways, the tape merges the old Keef—the grainy mixtape quality of the music, the nods to classic drill—with the direction he was heading, particularly the very aggressive use of autotune. —Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Dedication’ (2017)
An argument can be made that Chief Keef’s most God-tier spitting came between 2017 and 2019. On Dedication, he was so locked in lyrically, you’d think he was gunning to be the best rapper alive. He is at his cleanest, most coherent, and sharpest here, with a polish reminiscent of Finally Rich. Tracks like “Mailbox” showcase some of his best wordplay, with Keef riding the production nimbly—a sharp contrast to his earlier mixtapes. “Kills” is another standout, where he flows with a graceful precision that wasn’t always present. True to its title, Dedication is one of his most focused projects, to the point where it could have been a full-fledged album. —Mark Braboy
‘Back From the Dead’ (2012)
When Back From The Dead hit physical and digital streets in 2012, its raw but electrifying visuals—“3Hunna,” the original “I Don’t Like,” and “Everyday”—took everything from the true-to-life storytelling of Bang and elevated it. The mixtape was Chief Keef’s definitive statement to Chicago, his GD opposition, and the world: he was here. He became one of the catalysts who carried the 600 founder Edai’s “banging on wax” into a broader spotlight, bringing the O’ Block vs. Tookaville gang conflict to a national audience. Keef’s infamous line from “3hunna,” “Fuck a Tooka Gang, bitch I’m 3 hunna,” reverberated on the streets, turning the name of the late teenage Shaundale “Tooka” Gregory into a slur far beyond Chicago.
Meanwhile, students across Chicago and Illinois were vibing to underground hits like “Say She Love Me (Save That Shit)” with Soulja Boy. The mixtape also delivered one of drill’s most celebrated collaborations, “Winnin'” with King Louie. Blasting that song on one of Grand Theft Auto’s many radio stations feels like a time capsule—a brief moment when Chicago drill, despite its treacherous divisions, had some sense of unity. —Mark Braboy
‘Almighty So’ (2013)
While many thought Chief Keef’s career was over after parting ways with Interscope Records, Almighty So marked the start of his transformation into a cult street icon. The hyper-polished production, meticulous mixing, and big-budget gloss were gone. In their place was a doubling down on the raw, rustic mixtape energy of the first Back From The Dead, amplified with syrupy, hazy, ghetto-psychedelic sound and a drawl that would define his later work through 2017. This was Almighty So, still one of his most influential projects.
Built from beats sent by up-and-coming producers, Keef took listeners on a codeine-fueled ride that highlighted his trap influences, creating perhaps the strongest fusion of drill and trap in his catalog. The “Almighty So Intro” stands as one of his greatest openers, while tracks like “Blew My High” and “Me,” featuring his cousin Tadoe, showcase the sparkly, ghoulish, even aquatic soundscape—a clear expansion of his Zaytoven influence. —Mark Braboy
‘Back From the Dead 2’ (2014)
In many ways, Back From the Dead 2 feels like the birth of Chief Keef the producer. He had dabbled in production before, but this is the first time he helmed the majority of a project, with only a handful of tracks coming from outside sources. Upon its release, the album sounded unlike anything else at the time: this was Castlevania music—beats layered with dramatic synths, ghostly chants, and wild, unpredictable shifts. He was going fucking crazy. “Home” sounds like a dry eraser scraping a plastic board; “Cuz” hits with a drum pattern that sounds like an elevator smashing down; “Smack DVD” tolls with church bells you’d expect to hear in hell. And of course, “Faneto” is the centerpiece—maybe the most conventional track, but still an astonishing blend of rapping and anthem-making.—Dimas Sanfiorenzo
‘Finally Rich’ (2012)
In 2012, while mainstream rap was ushering in a new era with the debuts of Kendrick Lamar, Future, Meek Mill, and Big K.R.I.T., the streets rallied behind the ominous, dreadlocked 17-year-old Chief Keef, a voice no one—not even in Chicago—saw coming. With his highly anticipated debut Finally Rich serving as the tipping point after Bang and Back From The Dead dominated both the internet and the streets, the album not only proved the commercial viability of drill music but also helped usher in an entire generation of young, wild, and lawless drill and SoundCloud rappers worldwide.
Finally Rich was the most polished version of Keef we’d heard at that point, delivering resonant anthems that struck a balance between radio-friendly hooks and the raw Chicago grit fans had come to expect. His platinum-selling hits “I Don’t Like” featuring Lil Reese and “Love Sosa” remain two of Sosa’s most enduring songs, while tracks like “Kay Kay,” “Ballin’,” and the title track revealed Keef’s vulnerability, particularly his love for his daughter and his desire to give her a better life.
Despite its enduring influence, the album was initially misunderstood by traditionalist rap critics. At the time, XXL wrote, “Keef still remains a one-dimensional character, never breaking from the cold, detached charisma that’s defined him,” a claim that misses the depth Keef displayed throughout the record.
The album’s engineering, production, and features made it future-proof. The synergy between Chief Keef and Young Chop rivals legendary pairings like DMX and Swizz Beatz or Gucci Mane and Zaytoven, while Jeezy’s verse on “Understand Me” stands as one of the hardest guest features he’s ever done. With its cultural impact still felt today, Finally Rich is not only Chief Keef’s best album but also one of the most important hip-hop albums of the 2010s. —Mark Braboy