Lil Durk has been making waves in the rap industry one single hit at a time over the last decade. His meteoric rise to fame is frequently depicted as someone who came from nowhere to achieve global success. However, this is not the case. Since 2011, he has been a rising star in the making.
He distinguished himself as a teen rapper by fusing trap, horrorcore, and Memphis rap to highlight the difficulties that young people, particularly Blacks, face on the streets. His rap lines also reflected his own street struggles.
Durk D. Banks grew up on Chicago’s South Side in the Englewood neighborhood. He grew up in extremely difficult circumstances, like many Blacks in the hip-hop industry. He dropped out of school, joined a gang, and became a father at the age of 17.
His life took a ‘positive turn’ when he discovered his talent for rap music and rap battles. He began rapping on MySpace and YouTube. According to Forbes, he released his first mixtape, “I’m a Hitta,” without a label.
According to Forbes, the mixtape was a huge success, resulting in a joint venture deal to bring his rap collective Only the Family under Def Jam. He quickly followed it up with “I’m Still a Hitta,” released in April 2012, and “Life Ain’t No Joke,” released in October 2012.
“Remember My Name,” his debut album, was released in 2015. He released “The One” with DeJ Loaf in 2017. Other singles he released include Love Songs for the Streets, Supa Vultures (with Lil Reese), and Bloodas.
His song, Just Cause Y’all Waited, peaked just outside the Top 50 in 2018. However, his third studio album, Signed to the Streets 3, debuted in the Billboard 200’s Top 20.
In 2019, he released Love Songs 4 the Streets 2, his fourth studio album, which featured A-list artists such as 21 Savage, Nicki Minaj, and Meek Mill. He released the album while on bail for his involvement in an Atlanta shooting.
He then released a new single called “Ahhh Ha,” which was followed by his seventh studio album, 7220. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. It featured Gunna, Summer Walker, Future, and Morgan Wallen among others.
Forbes 30 Under 30 — Music 2022 List stated that he “has been quite the commercial success with six platinum singles.”
Durk is involved in a variety of business ventures aside from music. According to Forbes, the rapper recently co-founded the digital wearables company NXTG3NZ, which is expected to revolutionize the Metaverse footwear industry. He founded it alongside Satoshi Designs and Nexus.
“The power has shifted to the artists and their fans with Blockchain tech,” Durk told Forbes. “I want to not only be a successful rapper/entrepreneur but a powerhouse voice in the metaverse and NFT community, at the forefront of this movement.”
According to Forbes, “NXTG3NZ is designed by the legendary Devonte’ Black and will have 10,000 tokens in total and be used on Avatars across the digital realm while still proving ownership in the physical.”
Durk said the next phase of his life is to venture into the movie industry and other things that people wouldn’t expect from him. “So while everyone’s sleeping, I’m up looking for the next thing,” he said.