One of my favorite music stories of the year is about a tune that didn’t make the official cut of an album released at the tail end of 2012—that being Chief Keef‘s “Citgo,” which is one of the three bonus tracks included in the deluxe version of Finally Rich. It would’ve been easy to miss “Citgo” since its placement on Keef’s studio debut makes it look like an afterthought. In reality “Citgo” is one of the most remarkable cuts on Finally Rich thanks to its producer, Young Ravisu; he deconstructed the clamorous drill sound by slowing down its apocalyptic synths until they took on a mellowed and vaguely elegiac state, which is occasionally punctuated by a bare, rattling drum pattern.
“Citgo” is one of the most memorable and unusual songs in Keef’s catalog, and the story behind the tune and its producer, which Spin Magazine scribe Brandon Soderberg broke back in January, is also quite fascinating. Young Ravisu (aka Radoslaw Sobieraj) is an 18-year-old aspiring aviation mechanic from southern Poland whom Keef discovered while trying to find beats for Finally Rich—Keef searched for “Finally Rich type beat” and found a short clip of what eventually became “Citgo.” Though he was born and raised in eastern Europe, the young producer appears to have something in common with American teens when it comes to music. When asked about his musical influences Ravisu responded with, “I’m all about trap.”