“Morning time, I get on my knees, I pray to Allah/Forgive me for the shit that I did,” harmonizes Lil Durk on “Pelle Coat,” a observe from his new album, Virtually Healed. The 30-year-old Chicago rapper has steadily gathered momentum ever since he signed with Def Jam in 2013. He’s arguably probably the most commercially viable proponent of drill music, and that success permits him to drift above the noise that roils heated discussions concerning the homegrown subgenre, whilst he navigates the form of business bullshit — a long-running beef with Baton Rouge’s Youngboy By no means Broke Once more, occasional authorized issues, and verbal photographs at fellow rap stars — that appears half and parcel with trendy rap movie star.
Durk has risen above the flotsam by refining a components he launched on his major-label debut, 2015’s Keep in mind My Identify, which splits between feral, hard-bitten avenue raps and anxious, melodically sung tracks. It has yielded rising rewards. In 2021, he scored his first number-one album with The Voice of the Heroes, a collaboration with Atlanta rapper Lil Child. Final yr, he added his first solo number-one album in 7220, a reference to his household’s former avenue deal with in Chicago. (It’s additionally the title of a memoir by his mom, Lashawnda Woodard.) Durk has leaned into his rising function as a mainstream rap chief: earlier this month, he met with newly elected Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, and he ceaselessly touts his group group, Neighborhood Heroes.
Durk’s newest, Virtually Healed, initially appears to replicate his new picture as a mature Chiraq survivor. It opens with an evocative intro from Alicia Keys, who nods to the lingering grief he feels from the murders of his brother Dontay Banks and longtime good friend King Von. “I need to hear from Durk Banks,” she says in a comforting, therapeutic tone. That leads into “Pelle Coat,” the place Durk ably balances lyrics about his ache and troubles with references to his Muslim religion over Chopsquad DJ’s melancholy piano traces. Durk’s hardly the primary rapper to wrestle with worldly needs and a religious calling, a convention that dates to Rakim stating, “However now I’ve realized to earn ‘trigger I’m righteous” on the 1987 basic “Paid in Full.” Nonetheless, Durk mines that acquainted rigidity effectively.
Extra express in pop ambition is “All My Life,” a made-for-streaming hit with J. Cole that has grow to be Durk’s greatest single so far, peaking at quantity two on the Billboard Scorching 100. “However the media name me a menace/I’ve been sitting with the mayor and politicians/I’m making an attempt to alter the picture,” harmonizes Durk over a cheery, barely tacky Dr. Luke beat. But it surely’s not too lengthy earlier than Virtually Healed swerves into an incessant stream of goon antics, drill threats, Percs, X tablets, “brodies” lifeless and alive, Tito’s vodka, Lambo vehicles, and hitting women from the again. The album has 21 cuts and save for a handful of tracks originally and the tip, every one delves into the form of druggy, violent trauma Durk initially deliberate to depart behind.
Lyrically, Virtually Healed is an often thrilling morass of contradictions. At its heart are a number of throttling avenue cuts. Future, whose cameos might be very hit-or-miss, delivers a robust verse for “By no means Imagined,” maybe an indication of the respect Durk now instructions. “Large Dawg,” which options Chief Wuk from Durk’s Solely the Household crew, is a tough, fuzzy quantity filled with stick speak. 21 Savage and producer Metro Boomin present up for “Battle Bout It,” inspiring Durk to threaten, “See, I ain’t reply on Instagram, I understand how to go ‘bout it.” Kodak Black helps throw bows on “Grandson,” which is coproduced by Zaytoven and Metro Boomin. New Orleans rapper Rob49 of “Vulture Island” fame has a fantastic breakout second on “Identical Facet.” With its mock-church bells and pummeling bass, “B12” solely raises the depth.
Ideally, Durk would have lower 5 or so songs and tightened Virtually Healed right into a clearer portrait of his battle to depart his pistol-scarred previous behind. As an alternative, he provides his followers a buffet of listening choices, some higher than others. On the Dr. Luke-produced “Stand by Me,” he reunites with Morgan Wallen, persevering with a treacly but charismatic pop-country collaboration that started with their 2021 hit, “Broadway Ladies.” “Child, when shit will get actual, I would like your loyalty,” sings Durk. It’s useful in decoding Durk’s inventive intentions. In contrast to onetime good friend and fellow drill pioneer Chief Keef, he doesn’t need to be a critically feted cult artist. He desires to be as accessible as doable, feed the streets, and construct an empire. For the second, Durk’s technique is working.
