Credit: Lil Durk

Lil Durk may be behind bars, but that hasn’t stopped him from releasing a new project. The Chicago rapper dropped his ninth solo album, Deep Thoughts, on March 28th, following his Almost Healed album in 2023.

Durkio was arrested in October on conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges, stemming from a shooting that resulted in the death of Quando Rondo’s cousin. He’s detained at Metropolitan Detention Center Los Angeles without bail, with his trial scheduled for October 14th, 2025.

Despite being locked up, Durk’s team has assembled 17 new songs by the ‘Laugh Now Cry Later’ artist. The body of work, out on Alamo Records/Sony Music Entertainment, includes features from Future, Lil Baby, Jhene Aiko and Hunxho, and soul-bearing song titles such as ‘Deep Depression’, ‘Soul Bleed’ and ‘Shaking When I Pray’.

The album opens up with Al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran, consisting of seven verses as a prayer for guidance and mercy. In the opening verse, he raps, “I pay cash and I feel good to do it, I grew up off link/ I like my Xans blue, my Percs white, my Sprite Easter pink/ I was salty when Nuski passed, so I couldn’t imagine what V’d have think/ I got a cousin in Jojo World, so I couldn’t imagine what he’d think.”

Following its release, Durk admitted he almost didn’t release the album but claimed “the streets needed” a project like Deep Thoughts. While disappointed he wasn’t free to celebrate, he stated he would be released from prison soon.

“I wasn’t gon’ put this out but then I remembered the streets need this,” he wrote in a message from jail. “Not being outside with y’all when I drop is hard, but I know I will feel y’all love and energy through these walls. Thank y’all for rocking with me through everything. I tell these stories so our voice is never lost. I’m coming home soon, stronger than ever. Inshallah, The Voice. Love, Durk.”

Durk released a documentary to coincide with the project, in which Durk says, “It’s gonna be more than just, ‘Is a song good or great?’ You gotta be like, ‘Boy, the album is nominated for a Grammy.’ We gotta start thinking in that box and get out the little box of thinking. This shit deeper than that. This shit really Deep Thoughts.”

The album cover shows Durk sitting cross-legged on a rug with scribbled words on the walls around him, including “deep thoughts,” “pain,” and “family.” Since Durk is inside, his team was responsible for putting the album together, and he liked what he heard in a call from prison.

“I like the energy, what y’all been putting together,” he told his team in a video. “Even the list of songs you sent me is good, so I know y’all putting better changes on that shit, so I know it’s gonna be bigger and better.” Durk’s last album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 125,000 units, so he’ll be expecting another big first week this time.