Lil Durk
Hip-Hop
Biography
Durk Devontay Banks (born October 19, 1992), known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper. Regarded as a pioneer of the Chicago-based hip-hop subgenre drill music, he is often considered the subgenre's most commercially successful rapper. He initially garnered local success with the release of his Signed to the Streets mixtape series (2013β2014), which led to him to sign with Def Jam Recordings. The label released his debut studio album, Remember My Name (2015), and its follow-up, Lil Durk 2X (2016), to moderate commercial reception before parting ways with the rapper in 2018.
After self-releasing his Just Cause Y'all Waited mixtape in March 2018, Banks signed with Alamo Records later that July. His 2020 single "Viral Moment" became his first song as a lead artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100, signaling a major breakthrough that year. Along with three further entries on the chart as a lead artistβ"3 Headed Goatβ (featuring Polo G and Lil Baby), "Backdoor," and "The Voice"βBanks also gained attention with his guest appearances on Drake's "Laugh Now Cry Later" and Pooh Shiesty's "Back in Blood," with the former peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
He ended 2020 with his sixth album, The Voice (2020), which peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. The next year, his collaborative album with Lil Baby, The Voice of the Heroes (2021), became his first to debut atop on the chart; his seventh album, 7220 (2022), became his second to do so. His eighth and ninth albums, Almost Healed (2023) and Deep Thoughts (2025), both peaked at number three on the chart; the former was led by the single "All My Life" (featuring J. Cole), which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, marking the biggest commercial success of his career.
Banks has won a Grammy Award from four nominations. He founded the Chicago-based collective and record label Only the Family (OTF) in 2010, which included late rapper King Von. In October 2024, Banks was arrested by federal authorities on a conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charge against rapper Quando Rondo. He is also suspected in another murder-for-hire plot that occurred in 2022.