Chief Keef’s Stepbrother Killed in Chicago

As Chicago continues to struggle with its ongoing shooting epidemic, an aspiring rapper is added to the city's rising death statistic. DNAInfo.com reports that Chief Keef's stepbrother, Ulysses "Chris" Gissendanner III, was shot and killed last week while visiting his uncle. He was only 19 years old.

Gissendanner, whose rap moniker was YPN Boomtown, is the fourth up-and-coming teen rapper killed in Chicago since September. His relation to Keef, born Keith Cozart, is reportedly by marriage -- Alfonso Cozart, Keef's father, is Gissendanner's stepfather.

Authorities believe that Gissendanner’s death is not related to Keef's popularity as a rapper. However, Alfonso Cozart is worried that the violence could follow Keef, to whom he's estranged from. “As a caring father, who wouldn’t worry about that?” Cozart asked. “I do want my son to have success and have a long, positive life, and I hope the best for him.”

Gissendanner was following in Keef's footsteps as a hip-hop artist but his rhymes weren't about violence, in fact, he was the total opposite of the 'I Don't Like' creator.

"He rapped about struggling and what he was going to do," said Gissendanner’s friend and manager Tommy Rice, founder of Chicago-based record label Tru Biz Records. “He was going to make it big. We were going to make it big.”

Chief Keef's attorney, Dennis Berkson, told DNAInfo that his client's immediate family doesn't consider Gissendanner or Alfonso Cozart to be family. "Chief Keef wasn’t friendly with Gissendanner and had nothing to do with the kid," he said. "And [Chief Keef] has no relationship with his father."

Funeral services for Gissendanner are still being arranged by the surviving family.

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