Analyzing Lil Durk’s Impact On Music In 2020
Lil Durk had a turbulent 2020. In the midst of having the biggest year of his career by far, the late year passing of King Von who was very close to Lil Durk was devastating. The passing of King Von prompted the release of his latest project, “Long Live Grandson”, an ode to the King Von’s nickname. On a musical level, Lil Durk’s impact was felt in 2020 in a year where there was every opportunity available for an artist to fall or cool off with clubs and events closed down more than usual across the country. Artists like Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, and Lil Durk were able to carry music in 2020 through their bodies of work (Roddy’s project came out December 2019) and their presence by featuring on seemingly everybody’s single and album. Lil Baby and Roddy Ricch are two of the newer faces of rap, but Lil Durk is a 7+ year veteran in this rap game bland was somehow able to become one of the hottest mainstream rap artists of the year. He’s always had the streets, and has had some commercial success but nothing like this. This is a case study on how Lil Durk was able to takeover 2020.
MAY 8TH, 2020
Lil Durk releases his album Just Cause Y’all Waited 2. This album would go on to contain one of the best songs of the year “3 Headed Goat” featuring a standout Polo G verse. This song would later land on Hov’s end of the year playlist bringing in even more attention to the biggest song off the project. The album brought in good reviews across the board, with songs such as “Gucci Gucci” featuring Gunna, “Chiraq Demons” featuring G Herbo, and “Street Affection”. Lil Durk was already on an ascension before 2020, building off his 2019 feature run and solo project Love Songs 4 The Streets 2 and his OTF compilation album Family Over Everything. Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 would go on to sell 57K album units first week, an improvement over the 44K units sold first week for Love Songs 4 The Streets 2.
JUNE 26TH, 2020
Lil Durk drops the deluxe version of Just Cause Y’all Waited 2. This version of the album further cements the project as one of the best albums of the year. Songs such as “Watch Yo Homie” and “Denied in UK” showcase why a lot of people enjoy listening to Durk because of the vulnerability he gives in the lyrics. He’s very transparent about the things that occur in his life and he matches the real life content with the music he creates
AUGUST 14TH, 2020
The biggest moment of Durk’s career up to now. Lil Durk and Drake combine on Laugh Now Kry Later to give us one of the biggest records of 2020. Durk might’ve had the most used bar by fans when he said “I’m in the trenches relax, please do not play that lil boy in the club cause we do not listen to rats.”. It was probably the stamp that made sure that Lil Durk would be in the conversation for MVP of Hip Hop in 2020. This song put Lil Durk on the superstar trajectory he’s now on, and while the music has always been there you always need that defining hit that stamps you as a top tier act. Laugh Now Kry Later did just that peaking as the number two song in the country.
AUGUST 21ST, 2020
Nas brings Lil Durk on for his album King’s Disease. On paper it may seem like an off the wall pairing, but Nas has actually been on record saying that Lil Durk is one of his favorite rappers out right now via the Drink Champs Podcast. The song was well crafted, and while Durk had featured on plenty of artist’s records, getting a feature from one of the greatest rappers of all time in Nas was a big deal.
DECEMBER 24TH, 2020
The Voice. As if 2020 didn’t feel his impact enough Durk gave us his second album of the year in the much awaited album “The Voice”. After the tragic passing of King Von, you can see the homage that Durk pays for King Von by placing him on the album cover with the words “Long Live Grandson”, which is an ode to King Von’s nickname. The King Von and Lil Durk collaboration song “Still Trapping” along with the Young Thug and 6LACK collaboration track “Stay Down” have found their way on a bunch of playlists across streaming platforms. It dropped a day before the official industry release date which is every Friday at midnight, but it did go on to do 93K in its first weeks of tracking. A step up from the previous first week album sales, all in a pandemic at that. The ascension of Lil Durk in 2020 gave us some of the greatest music of the year, and it showed that know matter how long you’ve been in the game it’s never too late to reinvent yourself and have a career year.