Though Lil Durk has proven himself to be a voice of the streets, he has also used his music to express vulnerability, exemplifying the toll his lifestyle can take on an emotional level. It's part of the reason why the production of his new album The Voice is so frequently melancholic, with songs like the piano-driven standout "Refugee" sounding closer to lullaby than banger. Yet it's over this sort of beat that Durk is at his most effective, drawing from his own trauma and pouring his pain onto the page.
"I grew up in vacant apartments, the presence of pills retarded," he raps. "They don't even care if ni*gas steady dyin' from it, they just floodin' the market / Off them drugs I nodded, I'm with the killers regardless / Don't ask me why I got gun on me 'cause these ni*gas be killin' the artists." These fragmented snapshots of Durk's past paint a vivid picture of what drives the man he is today, while hauntingly delicate piano suggests that even the appearance of success is not always what it seems.
Check out "Refugees," but one of the many compelling chapters of Lil Durk's new album The Voice, available to stream right here.
QUOTABLE LYRICS
I grew up in vacant apartments, the presence of pills retarded
They don't even care if ni*gas steady dyin' from it, they just floodin' the market
Off them drugs I nodded, I'm with the killers regardless
Don't ask me why I got gun on me 'cause these ni*gas be killin' the artists