Former Interscope executive Larry Jackson is spilling the tea on Chief Keef’s wild rise to fame as a teenager.
During the Popcast by The New York Times, Jackson, who now runs gamma, opened up about the crazy threats Keef was dealing with when Interscope signed him in 2012.
Jackson shared that Keef was on the FBI watchlist and even had a hit on his head.
“I got a call from a friend connected to the FBI,” Jackson said. “He told me that this kid [Chief Keef] was on a watchlist. He also told me that there is a $50,000 hit out on this kid and you may want to do something about it.”
Instead of just being another exec in the game, Jackson took on a mentor role. He even wrote a letter to the judge that kept Keef out of jail.
“I kinda stepped up in a ‘father figure’ role. So it’s so much deeper than, ‘Yeah, lemme sign this guy because everybody wants him, he has a bidding war.’ No, this was so much deeper in terms of a vision — for not just the music but for his life. And we’re still close to this day because of that.”
Keef signed to Interscope for $6 million after the success of his drill anthem “I Don’t Like,” but his legal troubles led to him being dropped after two years, despite his close friendship with Jackson.
He said, ”The most important thing to me is that he’s still alive. And not in prison.”
Interscope A&R Larry Jackson reveals 16-year-old Chief Keef was on a FBI watch list, and had a $50K bag on his head after Sosa signed a $6M deal in 2012 pic.twitter.com/775Vo9FbDs
— RichAndRay (@RichAndRay33) December 23, 2024
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