Advertisements

Introduction

    Anyone following drill has their eyes on Timo. With work dating back to 2016, rapper Timo is a Chicago native part of the post-Chief Keef era of drill. He has never stopped applying pressure from his beginnings and clearly has his sights set on real rap money. After amassing a collection of street anthems and millions of views, Timo is now signed to Lil Durk‘s record label OTF.

Origin story

Timo interview with 16 ShotEm Visualz

    Timo is from “39th Murdatown” in Chicago, a community of apartments in the south side of the city (Wentworth Gardens). This section belongs mostly to Gangster Disciples but is known to be cliqued up with Black Disciple neighborhoods like Lamron, O’block, and Front$treet. These gangs are the most well known in the city due to drill’s popularity explosion in 2012 caused by Chief Keef.

    The street politics in Chicago force divisiveness amongst local artist’s careers. Many rappers cannot work with others because of the gun violence, and almost everyone is involved in that drama. Luckily for Timo, his neighborhood has good history with every area in Chicago with huge listenership and financial success in music.

Google Street View showing the Wentworth Garden apartments (“Murdatown”) near 38th St. and South Princeton Ave
Advertisements

Timo’s Musical Effort

    The quality of everything Timo is doing has been increasing over the years. From the quality of his videos, to his lyricism, flow and confidence- Timo is working hard for his 15 minutes of fame. He is methodical and consistent with how he depicts himself in his music, in order to build an image for the fans to look forward too.

    There are some things we can assume about his lyrical content before listening, given that we are talking about drill music. Timo is deeply entrenched in the gang drama of Chicago. His rapping is an epic and sometimes emotional series of accounts pertaining to that lifestyle, far from unusual for drill.

“Kill Switch” is one of Timo’s most popular songs, currently sitting at 1.65 million views

Put your ass in a blender, smoke who really want it? Private jet, smoking dead opps, Melly really smoking

Timo on “Kill Switch”

Drugs, Guns, and Glock Switches

News release about Glock switches popping up in Chicago (from WGN news)

    In his videos, you will often see him sweating profusely and dancing in a robotic manner typical of MDMA. This is no speculation, however. Like with many modern Chicago rappers, ecstasy tablets are a huge part of the life and music for Timo. Many artists rap about their need for them, but for Timo they are just fun. Cough syrup and Oxycodone pills are also a common theme.

    Timo’s videos are famous for containing dozens of guns, from pistols to assault rifles. You won’t go through two Timo videos without seeing a hand cannon and chopper multiple times, with accessories to boot. Most videos don’t contain disclaimers regarding prop guns, which has been a damning factor for artists in the past. Something somewhat unique to Timo’s music is his love for the Glock switch: This is a tiny accessory made for Glock brand pistols that is configured into the slide, turning it to a fully automatic machine pistol.

The sequel to “Kill Switch” is currently at 700,000 views.

“Everytime I see an opp, get on my bully (woah woah), any Glock I get i’m turning that bitch to a fully (woah woah)”

Timo on “Kill Switch 2”
Advertisements

Fame / OTF Signing

    Timo’s hard work finally culminated to him being signed to OTF in 2020, making him the most recent artist on Lil Durk’s drill label (one of the most important outlets in the genre). Some of the rappers labelmates now include talents like King Von, Memo600, Jusblow, and Booka600. Timo capitalized on his fresh signing limelight and quickly released a video-accompanied single on OTF: “No Auto Timmy” happens to be his first WorldStar-hosted single, a huge milestone for any rapper.

Timo’s most recent banger on OTF “No Auto Timmy” (April 2020, 459,000 views) is titled after a Lil Durk anthem “No Auto Durk” (2019, 45 million views)

The Timo Meme GIF

    Timo became popular on Reddit’s /r/Chiraqology with the “Free Boss Luck” music video, shot in the heart of Murdatown. While rolling hard, Timo looks at the camera and carefully busts out the most sweat covered “robot” ever maneuvered. The GIF for this moment has since become a well shared meme in the community.

Dance GIF
Timo sweaty dance GIF (source)

Collaborators

    Timo’s body of work is dominated by solo records. Though he is seen constantly in music videos with armed comrades (and does have a collaboration or two), he built his sound while alone on beats over the years and was never carried by a larger artist. Now that he is associated with a label, we should hope to see Timo appear alongside other drill artists with traction (as well as release a mixtape).

Collaboration with deceased rapped Twhy called “Stain” (214,000 views)

Rivalries

    The rawness of drill lyrics and those of Timo’s specifically is a glimpse into wartime. While the young rapper is fortunate enough to have opportunities with other established artists, there are buzzing names in Chicago trying desperately to make it clear that artists like Timo have a competition (and a lot more to worry about than music).

Advertisements

Murdatown vs. 051 Young Money

Murdatown Lil Curryio (source)

    With somewhat of a rap career of his own, “Drilla” from the “051 Young Money” section of Chicago is a confidently asserted threat to many careers in Chicago. His set is publicly involved in bloodshed with almost every gang behind successful drill music. Drilla raps about already deceased individuals from rival gangs, and taunts their loved ones often. One of these people is Lil Curryio / “30 boy”, a young man that appeared constantly in Timo music videos and was shouted out often in his rap.

    Curryio was a Murdatown native that was killed January 2, 2020. Shortly after, those that mentioned it first in their lyrics were 051 Young Money: Drilla and his collaborators make fun of Curryio’s death by a gunshot wound to head, and mention Timo’s name as well. In a career-favored response, all of Murdatown poses with a Curryio cardboard cutout in the “Kill Switch 2” video and Timo raps simply that no opposition of theirs was responsible for his death.

Drilla and Grayski on “F*ck the Opps* (242,000 views)

“Curryio head was big, that’s why his shit got popped (big head ass)”

Grayski on “F*ck the Opps”

“Ain’t no opp do shit to Curryio, they ass just be woofin'”

Timo on “Kill Switch 2”
Timo passes off a rifle to cardboard Curryio in “Kill Switch 2

The craziest part? The word on the street in Chicago is that Drilla and Timo are cousins. Timo even seems to make mention of it lyrically:

“Might just back door my lil’ cousin, he ain’t one of us”

Timo on the original “Kill Switch”
Thanks contributor YamaOgbunabali on Reddit

Conclusion

    Recent reports state that Timo had relocated to Atlanta to focus on his career. Before the pandemic slowed things significantly in music, Timo barely got a chance to release “No Auto Timmy” on OTF. We should all expect to see bigger things over time from workaholic rapper Timo, especially as quarantine conditions begin to lift. Until then, check out his vast filmography on YouTube and follow him on Instagram!

TIMO YOUTUBE BREAKDOWN / May 2020

Timo’s accumulation of music videos on YouTube are responsible for more than 4 million views to date (2016-2020).

Timo – No Cap (1 million views)
Timo – No Cap pt. 2 (344,000 views)
Timo – Kill Switch (1.65 million views)
Timo – Kill Switch 2 (703,000 views)
Timo – How I’m Coming Remix (719,000 views)
Timo – Get Changed (947,000 views)
and more…

More from UrbanTrueCrime.com

King Von is a woman-killer with a buzzing rap career
Benz Zoe should be on your radar if you like rap music
Twhy from Chicago should have been a star
Memo 600 shares footage of oversea fans in a violent frenzy

Advertisements

Is This Gang Member’s Halloween Costume a Rival’s Dead Body? 600 vs 051 Young Money in Chicago

A member of 051 Young Money in Chicago disses his deceased rival by mocking the circumstances of his murder.

Arkansas Rapper Cee Kay Arrested for Alleged Shooting Involving Security Guard Last Year

The Hikari-Ultra rapper Cee Kay was once subject to a viral SayCheese interview, an NBA YoungBoy collaboration and several hit singles, Jail stints in the Arkansas system and shooting incidents would prove to almost fully stagnate his career by 2022.

OBlock BossTop Regrets Incriminating Interview After FBG Duck’s Murder

A since deleted interview from an unknown Chi-town cameraman captured Oblock BossTop saying some certainly regrettable things on the topic of FBG Duck’s then-recent murder.

A Look at 9 Rare & Interesting Pharmaceutical Drugs

WeaponsG.com has compiled a collection of images showing off nine incredibly rare pharmaceutical drugs, with most of them being time pieces at this point. This article is possible because of the incredibly interesting /r/ObscureDrugs community on Reddit.

Who is Squiidape? One of The Most Followed Chicago Drill Outlets is a French Collective

For years now, the curiously named “Squiidape” blog has been a dominating news source for the french drill fans out there, represented by a handful of young France-based men who are obviously some of the biggest appreciators of the music.

Random: Abandoned Mausoleum in Polish Park Once Housed a Monster

In a publicly accessible park in Poland, locals could venture to a somewhat remote forest area and find a small mausoleum (in disrepair) with more than a century of history. Upon entrance between 2016 and 2019, one was confronted by an abandoned Polish monster statue.

VIRAL: Man Drops Pound of Weed All Over Car

A video is going viral since yesterday (924K views currently) showing the aftermath of a man dropping a pound of weed all over his car.

Gang Member Unknowingly Exposes Self as Federal Informant During Court Livestream

An alleged member of the Latino Chicago gang “Two Six” recently appeared for a digital court date over Zoom and exposed himself as a federal informant on the livestream. The judge among others quickly caught the man and gave him a stern notice that his court date was being broadcast on YouTube.

Lil Moe of Chicago Was Making Noise Before Music

Lil Moe is only 15 years old, and after uploading his first music video midway through June of this year (“6 Blocka”) he has already amassed hundreds of thousands of views. Fans are now hopeful for a Lil Moe rap career, but Lil Moe had his fame already from the “streets” side of the Chicago…

30+ Intense Videos of The George Floyd Riots

WeaponsG.com has compiled more than 30 videos from Twitter users highlighting the magnitude of George Floyd riots in America.

“Zombie Rat” Caught on Video in N.Y.

A Reddit user shared footage today of what appears to be an emaciated, zombie-like rat moving around beneath a dumpster (and rather quickly). Users are saying this footage comes from New York.

Rapper Tray Savage Dead After Shooting in Chicago

Tray Savage is dead at 26 following a shooting. He was known for his fame as a rapper in Glo Gang, even making music with Keef himself.

WATCH: Carjacker Gives Up Because He Can’t Drive Stick

A video has surfaced on Reddit showing an attempted carjacking that failed miserably when the robber realized he just hopped into a manual vehicle. He even appears to holler out to the victim for help.

Lit Yoshi is a Terrifying Louisiana Rap Prospect

Fredo Bang continues to make noise in the rap game, but one of his partners is also coming up fast now. Mieyoshi “Lit Yoshi” Edwards is a Baton Rouge native and original TBG member just like Fredo, and he holds a similar amount of street-level influence (if not more).

051 Rose is an Enforcer-Turned-Rapper

In Chicago drill culture, fans fascinate over not only the rap stars, but also the “enforcers” and figures behind the scenes. Artists like 051 Rosé have been on both sides of the spectrum.