Lil Durk was ever-present this year without dropping a proper solo album (he dropped the deluxe version of this album and Voice of the Heroes with Lil Baby). So in order to gauge why millions of rap listeners relate to and feel elevated by Durk, one looks at The Voice as his latest solo album.

The title was announced by the single of the same name and is Durk’s nickname, which nods at him giving a voice to the voiceless (he similiarly declared himself the Neighbourhood Hero on an older track).

Tragedy looms large over this record, as it was preceded by the death of his friend King Von (who has a standout appearance on Still Trappin). Songs like Backdoor or Death Ain’t Easy deal with that loss.

Lil Durk claim on being the voice isn’t limited on articulating dark thughts though. And so, he also adds the songs India Pt. 3 and Coming Clean to his collection of sexual songs.

Does the album help to understand the phenomenon of Lil Durk? It does probably not capture his full diversity enough. Verses he dropped in 2021 on Who Want Smoked – Remix or Pissed Me Off show that he has a whole aggressive side which he didn’t really let through on this album.