Young Chop helped create the Chicago drill sound
that took over the entire industry and changed rap forever,
but then he allegedly lost his mind,
started getting into shootouts,
and destroyed his whole career -
and today we’re breaking down the crazy downfall.
Chop came up on the South Side of Chicago
and started producing when he was just 11 years old.
One of his cousins introduced him to a beat-making software called FL Studio,
and Chop just dove straight into it.
Most rap fans know that Chicago changed everything in the early 2010s
and rappers from everywhere else started copying their style,
but before Chop and Chief Keef blew up
the city didn’t really have a big hip hop scene.
There was always the East and West coast sounds,
then the South started popping off with dudes like Gucci Mane -
but Chicago didn’t have much influence
besides a few big artists like Kanye.
That all changed when Young Chop and Chief Keef
started linking up in the studio though.
Back then, Chop had to carry around a massive desktop computer
when he wanted to work with someone,
and he didn’t have any kind of professional equipment.
He wasn’t cookin up beats in a million dollar studio,
but that didn’t stop him from kicking off a whole new wave in the industry.
Chop met Keef through his homie Edai,
and they linked up the first time for Keef’s mixtape Bang.
Bang and keef’s other tape called The Glory Road
had Chop’s name buzzing in the city,
but before he could take it further
Chop got booked for letting off shots from his car.
Keef already knew that Chop had potential,
and he hit him up immediately after he got out of jail.
Chop said he got a message on Facebook from Keef,
and after he got out of school that afternoon
he brought his computer over
and they cooked up the track 3Hunna in one day.
Sosa had some momentum in Chicago already,
but 3Hunna is what made everyone start paying attention.
The track popped off and there was nothin else like it.
The video was just Keef and a bunch of homies rapping where they really came from,
and Chop’s production took it to the next level.
3Hunna had Chop and Sosa on the come up,
but what they dropped next sent a shockwave through the whole industry.
In March 2011,
Young Chop and Chief Keef released I Don’t Like.
3Hunna was successful,
but nobody expected I Don’t Like to blow up like it did.
They racked up over a million views on YouTube in no time
and put Chicago drill on the map.
They were already popping off, but then Kanye, Pusha T,
Big Sean, and Jadakiss hopped on the remix
and ran up even crazier numbers.
Having one of the biggest artists in the world
remix your beat is a dream for most producers,
but Young Chop wasn’t rocking with how it all went down.
Chop’s original beat had his own style,
but the remix sounded completely different.
Obviously the fans liked it because it blew up and turned Keef into a star,
but Chop told XXL that he felt disrespected over the situation.
According to him,
he asked to hear the remix before it dropped
but the first time he heard it was on the radio.
He also said that Kanye changed up the beat without asking him,
and told XXL
“I’m hearing the song and there’s different sounds in the beat,
it don’t even sound like the real beat.
It sounded like a rock star beat,
and that’s not how I do it.
That’s not my sound.”
Chop never even talked to Kanye
because he had to go through a lot of people just to reach him.
He was actually in the studio when Big Sean was laying down his verse,
but he recorded over his original beat
so Chop had no idea the changes were coming.
There were rumors that Chop was actually going to sue Kanye over the track,
but a few days later he said that Ye reached out and everything was cool.
In 2013 they even linked up in the studio
while Kanye was working on his Yeezus album
and Chop told DJ VLad
“I sat down with him and s***.
Like bro really motherf***** talented…
The shit is just genius work.”
That wasn’t the end of the drama though.
In 2015, Chop told DJBooth
Niggas don’t even know the story
behind that,
he came to get beats from me.
Chop and Chief Keef already had millions of views before Ye remixed Don’t Like,
and Chop said
Yeah he wanted me
and he wanted that sound.
You see what I‘m saying?
He was taking from us,
you feel what I’m saying?
In another video from 2015, Chop said
Kanye don't make it no better
you feel me?
He be he right along with the shits
use you try to soak you know soak
you know soak up everything
niggas know
get you to write songs for him
you know
and then don’t call you after that.
Beefing with a superstar like Ye usually won’t help your career,
but 2016 is when Chop’s downfall really started.
Chop had always been close with his mom and grandmother.
He never had a driver’s license
even after he started making money in the rap game,
so his mom still drove him around most of the time.
They would travel together when he was on the road,
doing interviews, and everything else -
and in 2016 she tragically passed away
just one year after Chop lost his grandmother.
2016 wasn’t all bad though.
Chop and Sosa had some tension for a couple of years
and hadn’t been working together,
but that year Sosa called him up
and they started making music again.
Squashing the beef with Sosa was a great move for Chop,
but then he sparked a way more serious issue that almost got him killed.
2020 was a wild year for Chop.
In February of that year
he was booked in jail for allegedly starving a dog to death,
and then he started beefing with 21 Savage out of nowhere.
During an IG Live session,
Gillie Da Kid asked Young Chop
Who the scariest tough guy then?
The scariest tough guy?
Yeah nigga who be portraying
like he a real street nigga
but he scary as f***.
21 Savage
in my book
and the Migos.
I like Lil Baby
he be beating motherf****** up.
According to Chop,
I was in the studio with him and Meek
niggas ain’t living like that.
I had that big ass
that you dig homie
niggas left it, left the studio.
swear to God.
During the Live session
it seemed like Gillie knew Chop was losing it,
and after it went down
Meek hopped on Twitter and said
“It’s obvious chop having some mental issues…
y’all be gassing stuff so much
y’all just gone ignore it!
I been getting beats from him for years
hope he get well.”
Meek was really trying to look out for him,
but Chop clapped back on Twitter
and said Meek was mad because he hooked up with his girl.
Then in another Live session he called out 21 Savage again
and said they can meet up any time because they live in the same area.
And 21 we live in the same area
tell the people that
we live in the same f***** area nigga
we go to the same Walmart nigga.
What’s up nigga?
Let the people know that.
Chop also dropped a diss track aimed at 21 and said
“Big dog status, you can label me
If a n**** talk down,
I’ma send this b**** up
Six shots to his motherf*****’ head
One shot to his motherf*****’ leg.”
21 responded by posting a picture of Chop on his IG story with the caption
“Make sure y’all go get his tape wen it drop cuz he need da clout
and pray for him cuz he done lost his mine.”
That’s when Chop took the beef to another level
and tried to hunt 21 down in his hood.
Chop went live on IG while he was sliding into 21’s area in the back of an Uber.
According to Chop,
someone pulled up on them and shot out the Uber’s window,
and Chop told them they need to hire more shooters
because they didn’t even scratch him.
At that point everyone knew Chop was wilding,
and the next day he got booked for reckless conduct.
According to the arrest report,
the Uber driver told the cops that Chop hopped out of the whip
and started asking people where 21 Savage was.
At some point he got into an argument with a random dude
and pulled out his strap,
then he got back in the car and they drove off.
That’s when another whip started following them,
so Chop allegedly showed them his gun again and they started letting off shots.
Chop wanted the Uber driver to follow the other car after it sped off
but they couldn’t catch up.
Around the same time all of this was going down,
Young Chop posted a video of himself letting off a shot at some people
outside of his crib.
Rumors say he accidentally leaked his own address
by showing off his Uber destination on IG Live,
so some opps allegedly parked outside
and Chop took a shot at them.
A week after Chop got arrested,
he allegedly took another shot at 21 with track
You Know What We Do and rapped
“Slide through your block,
I’m lookin’ for the people
Them choppas on deck, you know what we do.”
Everyone Chop was trying to spark an issue with realized he had lost it,
and eventually the situation cooled off.
In 2021 he took another shot at Kanye
and called him a rat,
but then he suffered another loss
and hasn’t been active on social media since.
In April 2022,
Chop’s brother Johnny May Cash was killed by his girlfriend
after he brutally beat her.
A video of him attacking her came out a few months before,
but that wasn’t the first or last time he put hands on her.
Johnny had other domestic violence charges from different women,
and an assistant public defender said that his girlfriend shooting him
was “clearly self-defense.”
Young Chop was allegedly arrested for violating probation in the same month,
and reports say he’s still behind bars right now.
Back in 2011
it looked like Chop was going to be on the same level of Kanye and Pharrell
when it came to superstar producers.
He changed the game with his drill beats
and helped make Chicago one of the biggest rap cities in the world,
but unfortunately
he went down a crazy path and ended up destroying everything.
Hopefully he can turn it all around and keep dropping bangers
because it’s clear Young Chop has the talent to make it to the top.