Music career
Lil Reese garnered national attention after making a guest appearance on Chief Keef’s hit single “I Don’t Like”. After his appearance in Chief Keef’s video, he went on to make a couple youtube videos of his own which were well received by critics. Some of his videos included “Beef”, “Us”, “Traffic”, as well as numerous other songs. Reese’s success would soon catch the attention of ‘No ID’, a well-known producer in the Hip-Hip community, whom has worked with popular artists such as Kanye West, Common, and numerous others. After meeting with ‘No ID’, Lil Reese would soon sign a recording deal with rap label Def Jam.
Sometime in November 2012, Lil Reese released a remix of his popular song ‘Us’ which featured well known rappers Rick Ross and Drake, the remix would eventually be part of Rick Ross’s future mixtape titled ‘The Black Bar Mitzvah’. Lil Reese also worked with producer Young Chop, a Chicago native, whom made Chief Keef’s ‘I Don’t Like’. In January 2013, Lil Reese would release yet another remix of another popular song of his, ‘Traffic’, which featured two veteran rappers Twista and Young Jeezy. Lil Reese also made an appearance on Juelz Santana’s song ‘Bodies’.
Legal issues
Like many of his fellow GBE rappers, Lil Reese is no stranger to the law, in May 2010, Lil Reese was given a two year probation term after pleading guilty to burglary charges.
On October 24, 2012, Reese would once again find himself under the eye of the law, when a video posted on youtube allegedly shows him physically assaulting a young woman. The incident apparently took place in February 2012. The video, which was posted on Youtube, shows a woman trying to kick out some uninvited guests in her place of resident, she was confronted by Lil Reese and punches soon followed, she was dropped to the floor, and moment later Lil Reese and one of his male affiliates starts stomping her. Lil Reese would be arrested in connection to this assault in April 28, 2013 when he was found sleeping in his car in Chicago’s 4400 block of South Wells Street in Fuller Park; he was held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Controversies
Lil Reese had a long standing feud with Joseph 'Lil JoJo' Coleman, a rapper from Chicago and a member of the criminal gang ‘Gangster Disciples’, which has a story of beefing with Lil Reese’s gang the ‘Black Disciples’. The two made numerous songs dissing each other. Lil Jojo was gunned down on September 4th, 2012 while riding a bike belonging to one of his friends. Witnesses claim a man in a Ford Taurus fired multiples shots at Lil Jojo , he soon fell and died on the scene. Police claim they had recovered a weapon on Lil Jojo, but he never had the opportunity to fire back since he was shot from the back. After his death, Chief Keef, whom was part of the feud between Lil Reese and Jojo tweeted ‘Its Sad Cuz Dat Nigga jojo Wanted to Be Jus Like Us #LMAO’. Chief Keef later added another tweet claiming his Twitter account was hacked “my twitter has been hacked I think I'm making a new one dumb hating *ss people #DontWannaSeeAYougN*ggaShine”. Chief Keef and Lil Reese both treated as people of interest whom might have been responsible for Lil Jojo’s murder.