Chicago’s legendary emcee and OTF bossman Lil Durk, born Durk Derrick Bank, recently linked up with XXL magazine for a far-reaching sitdown. In a conversation with Georgette Cline, the emcee, who is fresh off a guest verse on Swizz Beatz’s “Hip-Hop 50 Vol. 2”. Durk revealed numerous details about his upcoming album, his discography and the continuing impact on rap music across the globe.
Amidst the conversation, Durk was asked about an artist who came before him and motivate him to build an “empire” of his own. While Durk said it was the legendary Brooklyn emcee Shawn Carter a.k.a. Jay-Z, it didn’t come off as a surprise. The young rapper has often discussed being inspired by HOV far as the music business is concerned.
“I’d say Jay-Z. S**t, look what he did. Résumé speak for itself. He used to be in this position. He used to be the underdog. The streets used to take him under. And he bossed up, nah’m sayin’? You ain’t see him post pictures every day tryna fit in,” Durk said.
However, Durk further shared a “memorable” incident with Jigga from Michael Rubin’s party last year. “I seen him at Michael Rubin’s party and he like, “Man, you motivate me.” Man, f**k me up. I forgot my reply to him, ’cause it was on a walk-by. The reply ain’t make no damn sense ’cause it shocked me. I’m like, What the f**k? Damn, that’s hard,” Durk added.
For Durk, who is gearing up for his eighth studio album, this changed everything. “It’s just motivation. Everything happens for a reason. It was for a reason I was standing right there when he walked past at the time,” Durk said.
“You know, it’s probably people that be around him every day or be around Drake every day and wasting time. And they won’t be like, “Lemme learn how to engineer.” “Lemme learn how to shoot videos.” “Lemme learn how to…” They just want to soak up the air. I’m like, nah, I’m gonna get to it. I’m gonna figure this s**t out for us,” the rapper further said.
Durk has further assured that a joint album with Atlanta’s Hip-Hop superproducer Metro Boomin might happen and “that’s something that he and Metro definitely talk about”.
“And ’til this day we talk about it. You never know. I just really put a lot of thought into a lot of stuff now where it’s like, could this work? Could this not work? With Metro, he one of the producers that’s gon’ tell you anyway. I don’t want a bunch of yes men around. Want muthaf**ka tell you, “That’s weak” or “That s**t ass,” Durk said.
Durk has further confirmed a “collab album” with Future too. During the XXL interview, Durk discussed having a “thousand songs together” with Future.
“Me and Future got a thousand songs together. We talked about it one day in the studio, about doing a collab album. Just going crazy, dropping, dropping, dropping. And from that studio session, everybody knew about it. We gon’ make it happen,” Durk revealed.
Durk dropped his top-selling seventh studio album “7220” last year. The massive 31-track LP sold over 125,000 equivalent album units in its first week and debuted at the top spot on Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. The album featured guest appearances from A Boogie With Da Hoodie, Ella Mai, EST Gee, Future, Gunna, Moneybagg Yo, Summer Walker and Morgan Wallen.
The emcee has been teasing his eighth LP ever since.
Look out for Lil Durk’s eighth studio album “The Voice 2.0” this summer.
Listen to Lil Durk’s 7th studio album ‘7220’ here if you haven’t yet.
