The two hottest rappers in the world came together for a collaboration project, and it did not disappoint at all. With Lil Baby as the hero and Durk as the voice, the world will definitely be tuning in. Both rappers are arguably at the height of their respective careers and they displayed exactly why they are a force to be reckoned with on this album. After teasing the project for several months and even previewing their own duo on DJ Khaled’s “EVERY CHANCE I GET“, they finally dropped a release date set for May 28th. However, in a move of respect, they agreed to push back the release to a week later due to the posthumous release of the late great DMX’s album on the 28th. On May 31st they dropped the title track as the lead single to prepare fans for the release and then two days later they posted the track list. The feature list was short in quality, but great in quality, with appearances from Travis Scott, Meek Mill, Young Thug, and Rod Wave. The album was pretty long with 18 tracks, but the positive thing about that was that there was only one single so fans were going to be treated to 17 brand new songs. And to no one’s surprise the album performed extremely well, selling 150K units in its first week reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 charts. And since its release on June 4th, the album has stayed in the top five, even rising to #3 this week. This was Durk’s first #1 album of his career and Lil Baby’s second #1 album after “My Turn”. Durk himself has the most chart entries of any rapper in just 2021 alone with 53. However, when it comes to rappers with the status of both Durk and Baby these numbers are almost expected by the public. There is not one single bad song on this whole project. Which is why that regardless of whatever numbers it puts up, it is my album of the year. SO FAR.
Throughout the whole project both Durk and Baby complimented each other perfect. Their undeniable chemistry is palpable on every single track and their ability to take control of the listener has never shown more. Both Durk and Baby talk about their daily struggles with life in the streets and their own drug addictions. And sadly these are not just lyrics, as Durk lost his blood brother OTF DThang, who was murdered in Chicago at a nightclub, just one day after the albums release. Durk lost both King Von and his blood brother in a span of seven months. And he is still making club appearances and performing at shows across the country. I bring that up because you can just hear the pain and anger in the music. And that is what makes it so much more genuine. Obviously as a listener you don’t ever wish any type of pain like that on your favorite artists, but you’re glad that they are still around to tell their own stories. And while all this madness is going on around him, Lil Durk is still fighting a murder case against him in the state of Georgia.
On the song, “Bruised Up” Durk said, “I’m on the case with n***** I love, but two of em died.” Referring to his murder case where he was co-defendants with King Von and I unfortunately don’t know who the other person is.
Even on the song, “Make It Out” Baby goes on to say, “Asked the D.A., “Can we fix this? I need Durk to get acquitted.“
At the end of the day both Lil Durk and Lil Baby have left their mark on hip-hop. And I’m glad to say that I was here to witness it. God willing both of them can stay safe and out of trouble because they are only scratching the surface of their potential. I will be very surprised if this album does not make my final top five for my album of the year rankings in December. Two articles in two days is now complete, I’ll be having more sports content coming soon because I have been mainly focusing on music recently. Y’all know the drill…
This is YSN, until next time, signing out.
Favorite Songs:
- Who I Want
- Hats Off ft. Travis Scott
- Man of my Word
- Bruised Up
- Still Runnin ft. Meek Mill
- Medical
- That’s Facts
- Okay
- Voice of the Heroes
- Make It Out
- 2040
- If You Want To
- Lying
- How It Feels
- Still Hood
- Rich Off Pain ft. Rod Wave
- Please
- Up The Side ft. Young Thug
It is always nice when two artists collaborate and produce something amazing! Great article!