Polo G has come a long way from the trenches of Chicago and now, he refuses to go back. That’s the legend behind his defiant Hall Of Fame single “No Return” which features The Kid Laroi and Lil Durk. The video, which centers on an armored truck heist and a chemical lab where Polo and his compatriots craft mysterious blue crystals, sees the three rappers counting stacks and battling their way out of a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Polo’s new album, which dropped last night, finds him working with a variety of collaborators, including Lil Wayne on “Gang Gang” and Nicki Minaj on “For The Love Of New York,” arrived in the midst of a breakout year for Polo. Not only was he featured on XXL‘s 2020 Freshman cover, but he’s also become an in-demand guest artist as his talents were tapped on Lil Tjay’s “Headshot,” Rod Wave’s “Richer,” and the Boogie soundtrack alongside Pop Smoke on “Fashion.” He also secured his first career No. 1 with “Rapstar.” The success that’s come his way this year has him further than ever on the road to living up to his album’s title.
Watch Polo G’s “No Return” video featuring The Kid Laroi and Lil Durk above.
Hall Of Fame is out now on Columbia Records. Get it here.
Every day brings the Fast And Furious sequel F9 closer to release and Atlantic Records, the distributor of the film’s upcoming soundtrack, is doing its part to leave enough breadcrumbs to maintain fans’ excitement. The latest is “Fast Lane,” which features Cactus Jack golden child Don Toliver, Chicago drill pioneer Lil Durk, and the recently renamed Latto contributing swaggering verses to a remake of the beat from Big Tymers’ 2002 hit “Still Fly.”
Over the triumphant brass and organ combination, Durk and Latto spit defiant bars about their respective successes, with Latto calling herself “the best of the bestest” and Durk threatening “I could put some rappers all on blast, but ain’t gon’ mention them.” Don Toliver provides a melodic hook, bragging, “They say that I know magic how my whips change.”
The song is the opener from the F9 soundtrack, which drops June 17, one week before the film screens nationwide. The album will feature contributions from both pop stars like Anitta and rappers such as the late King Von, Offset, the late Pop Smoke, Rico Nasty, and many more. Last week, the Ty Dolla Sign, Jack Harlow, and 24kGoldn single “I Won” was released with a cinematic music video.
Listen to “Fast Lane” above.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Atlanta rapper Lil Durk‘s personal business is getting exposed to no end. The Voice star has been called out by his apparent secret baby mama, Travonna. Lil Durk’s Secret Baby Mama Revealed On a YouTube show called Unwine With Tasha K, the alleged mother of Durk’s son accused LD of being an absent father. Travonna […]
Lil Baby stole the show in 2020 and his sophomore album, My Turn is complete proof of that. The project grew to be the best-selling album of the year thanks to efforts like “We Paid” with 42 Dugg and “Sum 2 Prove,” and helped push the Atlanta rapper into a new tier among hip-hop acts. However, the pandemic-riddled year wasn’t a bright spot for Baby only. Nearly a thousand miles northwest, Chicago native Lil Durk also elevated his artistry. Throughout 2020, he dropped two projects, Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and The Voice, with both debuting at No. 2 on the album charts, a career-high for him.
With the rappers’ respective success came a new height of popularity and more eyes on them. While some prefer to take advantage of the new attention for their benefit, Baby and Durk — who hatched some chemistry of their own through frequent collaborations — decided to make the most of their increased status for their newly-released album, Voice Of The Heroes. Just like the last however many collaborative hip-hop albums we’ve received over the past decade, the project looked to answer one question: Was it worth the hype?
Yes, but not by a significant margin. The thing with hip-hop joint albums over the past decade is most of them are either underwhelming or age poorly. Huncho Jack is an example of the former while Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive — minus a few highlight tracks — fits the shoe of the latter. Voice Of The Heroes sits in the middle of these. It wasn’t a disappointment nor will it age poorly. The project did what it needed to in highlighting the rappers’ best talents while inviting each other to their respective worlds to experience it and try a hand at thriving in it.
Examples of this arrive fairly often throughout Voice Of The Heroes. “Who I Want” sees both rappers tell their side of a “hustle and love” story with production that allows Durk’s laxed and woozy bars to be palatable with Baby’s grittier approach to the subject. The same occurs on the project’s title track, which doubles as the intro to the album. “Voice Of The Heroes” creates a space for both Durk and Baby that allows them to deliver a melodic sermon about life’s past and current struggles, the things they’ve overcome along the way, and their legacy that takes shape through each release. While there are songs that certainly complement both rappers, there are others that see one of them at an advantage.
“Medical” carries a piano melody that would’ve made the song ideal for placement on Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 and Durk shines because of it. Elsewhere, “Man Of My Word” and “How It Feels” sound like they were cut from the cloth of Baby’s My Turn fabric and released with slight alterations. “That’s Facts” is by far the best song on Voice Of The Heroes and it’s a jacket that fits Baby extremely well, but let it be known that Durk slides with ease on the track as well. Lastly, Durk treats his supporters to a pair of “No Auto Durk” offerings — which finds him rapping without his trademark autotune filter — through his verses on “Still Runnin” and “Lying.”
Lil Baby and Lil Durk’s project could have been a slimmer release. Outside of their excellent collaboration with Rod Wave on “Rich Off Pain,” the last third of the album is a bit of a drag that makes the energetic and diverse offerings that arrive before it feels like a distant memory. While today’s streaming world welcomes lengthy projects for the sake of a boost in sales, this writer will rarely be fond of projects that push past the 40-45 minute duration mark. This isn’t to say that the music in that section is bad, but in almost all cases, even the best things in life get tiring after a while.
Voice Of The Heroes is not the career-altering release that Baby and Durk’s respective 2020 projects put forth, but that wasn’t the expectation set by the rappers or their fans before it was released. The project delivers a satisfactory showcase in collaboration between two of this generation’s best rappers. Just like Future and Young Thug did when they shared Super Slimey in 2017, Lil Baby and Lil Durk recognized the potential in joining forces at the relative heights of their careers. Unlike the Atlanta rappers’ effort, Voice Of The Heroes is much closer in proximity to Baby and Durk’s best work. While this project isn’t heroic in any sense, Voice Of The Heroes is certainly better suited to save the day than most of the joint hip-hop albums we’ve received in recent years.
Voice Of The Heroes is out now via Quality Control/Alamo/Motown. Get it here.
New York rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine isn’t showing any mercy. Instead, the hip-hop troll has decided to use the death of rap rival Lil Durk’s brother OTF DThang as the fuel for their never-ending feud. Tekashi 6ix9ine Blasts Lil Durk A screenshot showing a headline revealing Durk’s family loss initially started to circulate online. Tekashi ultimately […]
Lil Durk has dealt with the loss of close friends at several instances in his career and unfortunately, the rapper will now have to deal with the death of another one. According to Chicago’s WGCI, Durk’s brother, DThang, was reportedly shot and killed on Saturday night. The reports say that DThang, born Dontay Banks Jr., was shot in the head outside of Club O, a strip club in Harvey, Illinois, a city south of his hometown of Chicago. HipHopDX adds that witnesses at the scene said DThang suffered a gunshot wound to the head which killed him instantly upon impact.
The passing of DThang comes eight months after King Von, who Durk affectionately referred to as “twin,” was shot and killed outside a nightclub in Atlanta. Von’s death shocked the hip-hop world as the fellow Chicago rapper was quickly rising to become one of the game’s brightest young stars. Durk would honor the late rapper in a number of ways. One example came on the album cover for his late 2020 album The Voice which featured a picture of him and Von together.
DThang’s death occurred during what was supposed to be a celebratory weekend for Durk. The rapper and Lil Baby are just days removed from sharing their highly-anticipated joint album, Voice Of The Heroes, which presented features from Travis Scott, Young Thug, Meek Mill, and Rod Wave.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Chicago rapper Lil Durk has lost a key family member. The rap star’s younger brother Dontay Banks Jr. a.k.a DThang had his life reportedly taken away from him through gun violence. In remembrance of the OTF member and Durk’s loyal family member, we have five looks at Banks Jr. highlighting their close-knit bond and deep […]
Chicago rapper Lil Durk has reportedly lost a true day one. Fellow Chi-Town native 147 Calboy has announced the untimely and shocking death of Durkio’s brother DThang. BREAKING: Lil Durk’s Brother DThang Killed Although details are still coming together, Calboy initially delivered the horrible reveal on his Twitter page. There’s also speculation he lost his […]
