Lil Durk [no longer playing]

One Liner: Entirely forgettable mumble trap and singing.

Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop, trap, drill
Home: Chicago

Poster Position: 2
Weekend One Only - Sunday.

Thoughts:  Man, I'm bummed out by the lack of top tier rap on the poster this year.  I know a bunch of people really love Lil Nas X, but when the top rappers on the lineup are him and this dude, we are hurting.  

This is some of that mumble trap garbage that all sounds exactly the same as you work your way through the top songs.  Like, I couldn't really tell you where one track started and one ended.  Well, except for one.  "Broadway Girls" is an abomination.  Just a deeply awful piece of garbage crossover attempt with Morgan Wallen that makes me angry that I had to listen to any of this shit.  I want to free my ears from the suffering that just occurred.  I was excited to throw him into Spotify today and just let it run all day.  But I don't want to hear this stuff at all.

Fun fact though, his actual first name is Durk!  Durk Derrick Banks.  Born in Chicago, and his father went to jail when he was 7 months old.  Two life sentences without the possibility of parole.  Sounds like a tough life, struggling to get food on the table, dropping out of high school, fathering a baby at 17, and joining a gang.  He has served time in prison as well.  His cousin was murdered in 2014, his manager was shot dead in 2015, his close friend King Von was murdered in 2020, and his brother was shot and killed in 2021.  Good Lord.

He is featured on a few Drake tracks - "Laugh Now Cry Later" has his biggest stream count by a ton at 725 million - or "In the Bible," with 111.4 million.  In fact, many of his top tracks aren't even his tracks, they are tracks by Cardi B, Drake, Gucci Mane, and Nardo Wick [sic], or they are his songs that prominently feature other top artists like Future, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Gunna, etc.

At first, he was all mixtapes and DatPiff releases, but then he signed to DefJam and started real albums in 2015 (while also releasing more mixtapes over the years).  Let's start with something old school first.  "L's Anthem" has 2.3 million streams and was released in 2012.

This is apparently a diss track against some rival gang guy and his "set" The Brick Squad.  The feud apparently ended when the rival gang member was murdered in 2012.  WTF man.  I'm scared that I shouldn't even publish a review of this guy - going to get murdered.  I'd definitely prefer less crappy Autotune for this rap, but its actually a good track - L's Up is a good diss and a catchy refrain.  After that, he's got loads of tracks released, without many getting big stream counts.  Couple million here and there, but not until his debut album did he have a big track.  This is "Like Me," featuring Jeremih.  39.5 million streams.

Left the rapping behind for the R&B thing here.  He's got a pretty good singing voice.  Still, a forgettable track.  His next big one was a track with something called DeJ Loaf, called "My Beyonce," that fired up 44.3 million streams.  Not great, I suspect it only got big numbers because of the name.  Then several years without anything big until a 2018 album with a track with 69 million streams - "Home Body."  Also uninteresting.  His first truly big track was 2020's "3 Headed Goat," which features Lil Baby and Polo G.  220.5 million streams.

No clue which dude is which in the rapping through - just different Autotune guys.  If he is the guy with the blond dreads, then he's better than the other two guys?

I'm sure this show is going to be like the other mediocre rappers recently, like Polo G last year.  I didn't go, but my kids said that the actual performance was awful but that the hype music before he came on stage was the best fun they'd had at the Festival all day.  Not great when the actual show is overshadowed by a couple clips of Kendrick, Kanye, and Schoolboy.  I'll definitely be watching anything but this on Sunday night.

Also, I just realized that I had reviewed one of his albums several years ago.  Just for fun, here you go:

Lil Durk - Lil Durk 2X.  Blah blah blah.  More of this new rap that sounds cool as hell, tight clicking trap and deep bouncing bass combined for a menacing track (see the Future-assisted track "Hated On Me") but the lyrics are just mad lib garbage.  Here is the chorus and first verse of that track:
"I be tired of these niggas tryna ride da fucking wave
I done put some niggas on they feet around da way
I done put some millions in the traps around the way
I done did so much I make 'em feel some type a way
I want it all, I want it all
For me and my dogs, so we can ball
You see this drip, it's dripping on me
You see this clip, it's hanging on me
Pour up the lean, they hated on me
Pour up the lean, they hated on me

I run the check through machines now
I ride around with machine guns
I put a check on a ching chong
Hold up lil nigga I'm King Kong
I go to sleep with the hammer
Fuck watching the TV I'm watching the camera
I'm paranoid high than a hawk
You broke and it ain't my fault
I need it all, I told ya dog, I been running atlas
I'm gutta forever, I fuck on a thot then go fuck an actress
Then I find out you been lying about all the shit you say in your raps
I put the hood on the map, I put the hood on the map
My young nigga just caught a double, they tryna give him the chair
They tryna give him the chair."
Yep.  That is some insightful shit right there.  Shocker that he is rapping about being filthy rich and high and armed while everyone else is jenky.  Yaaawwwwwnnnnnnn.  And the chorus, I mean, how in the world could he have figured out that "me" rhymes so well with "me," or "way" really matches up well to "way."  I mean, this is graduate school level rhyme creation here.  Amazing.  His most popular track is "My Beyonce," which has 13 million streams (likely because people try it when they are hoping that Spotify has some new Beyonce), and is slightly better, just because I'd rather hear a love song than bling boasts, but still...

Nope.  Now, I'm not saying this isn't good mindless stuff to bump and bob your head to and feel all tough about jamming, but you get nothing out of it at all.  Unless you find lyrics about paying "bands" for your watch to be the height of Western Civilization, no need to go here. Just listen to that last Future disc and you'll get the same feel. I'm good without this stuff.