Icebox, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Lil Durk Prologue
Lil Durk is an artist from Chicago, USA. He is a rapper that recently came into the limelight. His parents gave him the name Durk banks, which is where he probably got the stage name, Lil Durk.
His interest in music started developing as a young man, he followed his dreams and made his mixtape with the help of his family. It was an OTF(Only The Family) label.
Following the success of his self-made mixtape, he decided to make music his source of livelihood, beginning from the year 2010.
So far music has been working well for him, he got a deal and signed with a record label called Def Jam Recordings. This record label is popular for signing young rappers who need their music to come alive in the world.
Lil Durk was said to be the best rapper amongst all the rappers that have been signed to this record label.
Lil Durk’s neighborhood wasn’t good while he was growing up, he and his family suffered a lot from being in this neighborhood. Firstly, his father was sent to jail in 1994 for doing drugs.
Afterward, his family had financial problems because of the imprisonment of his father, Lil Durk was at a very young age during this time. The violence on the streets of Chicago was mostly all he could talk and sing about during his first break into the music industry.
Growing Up
- Lil Durk came to the world n the year 1992, October 19 to be precise. His father was Dontay Banks, his mother hasn’t yet been spoken about but she was a nurse in Chicago. He also has a brother named D Thang. We have seen his brother in some of his music videos.
- Lil Durk had a lot of responsibilities hanging on him as a child. Because his father was put In jail while he was less than 2 years old. Although he was very young, he made it known to us that as long as he could remember during his childhood, there was hardly any food on his table.
- The violent nature of Lil Durk’s neighborhood had a very negative effect on him as a young man. Lil Durk has been arrested several times for weapon possession.
- No one supported him as a young rapper, he had to do everything on his own and was able to achieve a lot. His two successive songs ‘Sneak Dissing’ and ‘I’ma Hitta’ Hitta’ made his decision to become a full-time rapper confirmed.
- His first gained an audience through social media platforms like Myspace and YouTube. This also built his courage after a large online audience started having good reviews about his music. Although his final decision was made when he got a child at the age of 17, he knew he had to push hard to feed his child.
Personal Life
Lil Durk is now a married man with two sons ‘Zayden and Angelo’, his daughter is named Bella. He is married to Nicole Covone.
Durk has witnessed a lot of deaths in his lifetime, firstly, McArthur Swindle who was his cousin was killed by mobsters in Chicago. They both wanted to be rappers as they had been working together as part of the OTF group until he was murdered.
2016 was also a bad year for Lil Durk as his manager Uchenna Agina was also murdered by mobsters in Chicago. Some might say whoever got close to him got killed, but he was a great guy and the death of his manager caused him to grieve as they both fought in anyway they could to reduce mob violence in America.
Profession
When Lil Durk began his career in music, he had some associates in the Glo gang label which helped his music get promoted as he got to hang out with another Chicago rapper called Chief Keef. He didn’t want to sign into this record label and late on began developing his career stage in the music industry.
Lil Durk got a huge audience after his first two singles became a huge success. He kept on pushing and released a mixtape which he named ‘Life ain’t no joke’ which got 216000 downloads on the online mixtape distribution forum DatPiff. Also, so many social media audiences helped give this mixtape the audience it deserved.
During the late period of 2012, a song was dropped by Lil Durk which he called ‘L’s Anthem’, he featured French Montana on the track and it was a big hit.
Def Jam Recordings saw how far he had gotten with the song L’s Anthem and they wanted something more, they had a deal that made them became something like partners. Also, in the late period of 2013, he dropped his fourth mixtape called ‘signed to the streets’. The mixtape was released officially on DatPiff under the name of Coke Boys and OTF labels. A continuation of the mixtape ‘signed to the streets’ was released in 2014.
2015 came and brought its shares of blessings to this youngster. Lil Durk saw it fit to release his first album which got him a lot of audiences and cash flow. The album was called ‘Remember my name’. It came and it was a smashing hit as he filled it with songs talking about the violence he saw on the streets during his childhood. People loved it and it was on the Billboard 200 list where it was ranked as number 14. During the first week of the album release, 24000 copies were sold. Of course, there was a particular single in this album that caused the tension, a song named ‘like me’. This song gained millions of streams on different platforms such as iTunes and Spotify.
He loved to release projects during the lye parts of the year because in 2015 he also dropped a mixtape named ‘300 days, 300 nights. The particular hit single in this mixtape that made it a hit was a song named ‘My Beyoncé’. It was released as a teaser. His fans loved the mixtape and he became a solid brand in the music industry. Critics of course came in some times but it was part of the lifestyle, so it was something he could deal with.
The second album he released was named Lil Durk 2x on the 22nd of July 2016. A lit song on this album and probably the most popular was the one featuring Ty Dolla Sign, this song was released a couple of months before the album. Looks like this guy knows how to tease his fans. The second deal he got after this album was better than the first one. You could say that his album was a success.
Major Achievements
The third mixtape which he called ‘life ain’t no joke’ was a big success even though he couldn’t completely join the Chicago-based record label. This mixtape remains one of the biggest work he had done. This mixtape in his own words was what made his career a sure thing.
Based on how far the album he made at first named ‘Remember My Name’, brought the audience and helped him come out as a talented musician. The album was number 2 top R&B hip-hop albums.
Lil Durk got the accolades for being the best rapper of the year 2016, this award was given to him by a popular music blog, ‘Underground interviews’.
Lil Durk’s Offspring
Lil Durk and Nicole Covone were together for five years (2008-2013). He was just 17 years old kid when she gave birth to her first child who they named Angelo. She also gave birth to his second child ‘Bella’, that was the last child the couple had together before they split up. It was later stated that Lil Durk had other kids with other unknown women, their names are ‘Zayden, Skyler, and Du’mier’. Afterward, the rapper dated an Instagram influencer called India Royale in 2017. She also gave him a child called Willow.
Lil Durk’s Net Worth
Lil Durk was estimated by Forbes in 2020 to be worth 3.5 million US dollars. He got his riches from selling records, streaming, forums, concerts, and working as a guest artist on a song. He has a large audience on Spotify, 2.6 million people listen to his songs on Spotify.
During his young age, Lil Durk worked with a group called glory boys that was created by Chief Keef but he wasn’t signed into the label.
Legal Problems Faced By Lil Durk
In 2011, the young man was arrested for weapon possession and was given three months jail time. He was released later on bond but was still sent back to serve more 87 days.
Then came 2013, he was arrested by the police as they saw him throwing a 40 caliber handgun into his car as he noticed they were approaching him. He was charged as a felon who was caught possessing a weapon. He was charged 100,000 dollars for this, the young man’s lawyer also said he had nine affidavits from people in the neighborhood claiming that Lil Durk was innocent.