It’s clear from Lil Durk‘s latest album Deep Thoughts that the incarcerated Chicago rapper has a lot to get off his chest. Durk’s been behind bars since last October, when he was arrested on murder-for-hire charges related to the 2022 killing of Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson. (Durk has plead not guilty and is currently awaiting trial.)
As one of the first rappers to emerge out of the 2010s Chicago drill movement, Lil Durk’s pioneering movement was born out of years of trauma and hardship, most of which has continued to spill into his music over the years. While the radio-friendly vibe of the rapper’s 2023 LP Almost Healed finally indicated Durk was ready to turn the page to something more optimistic, Deep Thoughts pulls the Chicago lyricist right back into the trenches.
While the uplifting energy of Almost Healed ultimately led to Durk’s first Grammy win for “All My Life,” the mood of this new project is extremely dark, with very little radio-friendly brevity when compared to its predecessor. But the darkness is where Durk’s penmanship has always flourished, and in turn, Deep Thoughts offers up some of the most vulnerable bars of the rapper’s career.
With just a handful of features from Future, Lil Baby, Jhené Aiko and Hunxho, Lil Durk’s ninth studio album is mostly a solo affair. While there is plenty of heat on this tape, some tracks are ultimately better than others. Here is where Billboard believes all 17 songs stand on Deep Thoughts.
