Music Review: 2x is No 2peat for Lil Durk

Album: 2x. Artist: Lil Durk. Label: OTF, Coke Boys, Def Jam. Released: July 22, 2016. Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap. Price: $11.99.

Through the glitz and glamour that emits from downtown Chicago, shadows are cast onto the surrounding neighborhoods. Whether it is a heroin addict overdosing at the bus stop or a child never making it to the park because they were caught in the crossfire, Chiraq is a war zone.

Rapper and singer Lil Durk knows the streets of Englewood all too well. The streets on the south side of Chicago raised him. It was his school, his job, put him in jail and sadly enough is where he lost many of his friends including his manager OTF Chino. Having recently moved out of the Chiraqto flee the negativity with his 3 children he claims that he has changed. Although his mixtape turned album was a second chance at redemption for his first, compared to his past work 2x misses the mark.

Lil Durk has had multiple successes crashing the Datpiff website for his Signed to the Streetsmixtape series as well as many others. His first studio album Remember My Name flew under the radar in 2015, but stayed afloat with help from Chicago crooner Jeremih, on the song “Like Me.”Durk acknowledged that he didn’t get as much creative control on the album as much as he’d liked. His most recent project 300 Days, 300 Nights, was a point in the right direction for Durk with lessautotune and frequent collaborations with the chilling yet drill oriented production from producer C-Sick.

There have been artists to lose fans from their mixtape days once they’ve gone more mainstream.Other’s may take a dip in the mainstream then head back underground and never return. Thenthere are others to into a hip-hop purgatory, where the streets back you up to a point before you are too mainstream. Lil Durk is in Hip-Hop purgatory. Unless you are Drake, not many rappers can put out lyrical in-your-face lyrics and sing on top of that. Although Durk uses autotune he can do both and he’s stuck at a crossroads. Remember My Name, had two features that were in the same position as him.

Drill music grasps the essence of evil that plagues the city of Chicago. Drill captures the sounds of heavy bass and scattering snares layered over gothic synths and screaming gunshots. Music producer Young Chop who coined the sound for Chicago has been cranking out this sound since 2012. Now, that the hype for the Chicago drill scene has subsided known artists picked up by major labels have diverted toward more mainstream sounds. This also includes Young Chop and his supergroup of producers, the Chopsquad.

The production on 2x was far less darker then in priors. It had more of an Atlanta trap album feel. There is no doubt there was some influence drawing from the hotbed of hip-hop right now as artist like Future and Young Thug showed up on the album as well as production from Wheezy, Zaytoven, and Sonny Digital. Surprisingly out of all the features on the album was Yo Gotti’s verse on the trap single “Money Walk.” The way his lyrics ride the ghostly piano riff gives the song a different dimension then having another Atlanta artist on it.

There was some quality production from Chicago-based producers like Young Chop with “Super Powers,” and ChopSquad DJ with “Set it off.” Technically there is production from frequent collaborator C-Sick. The song “My Beyonce,” featuring Detroit femcee and alleged girlfriend Dej Loaf was on the album, but was already on his last mixtape which was release seven months prior.

Durk stands in his own lane as one of the few Chicago drill artists to really attempt to sing on their projects. There are very few people who can use autotune and actually sound good doing it. Durk is one of the select few. Although that is the case there was even more unnecessary autotuned crooning on 2x then ever. Just because you can pull off wearing a speedo you’re not going to wear it everyday, the same goes with autotune. On songs like “Super Powers” the autotune is appropriate because it adds another layer to the mechanical hi hats cutting through the ominous voice sample lingering in the background.

In all honesty, Chicago drill albums will always rattle the trunk of your car. There will always be drugs and guns because that is what the artist knew growing up. There is no denying that Lil Durk’shigh octane rapping and autotune singing gets the job done for a slammin’ drill album. 2x did bumppretty hard, but like his last album only a few songs stood out. While he might have his mixtape game down to a science, Lil Durk may need a third chance at creating the top-notch album he has envisioned since his days of selling drugs on the streets of Chicago.