The rapper Lil Durk admits “smoked” him on his own song: “He went super crazy”
Lil Durk is confident in his ability. No matter which rapper he collaborates with, he backs himself to be the better lyricist in the song. However, there’s been one occasion where the Chicago rapper couldn’t help but admit he got one-upped.
Durkio released one of his biggest tracks in 2023, ‘All My Life’, which appeared on his Almost Healed album. The song, produced by Dr Luke, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and has over 400 million Spotify streams, with its music video also racking up 236 million views.
Part of its success is due to the feature from J Cole, who provides a guest verse on the record. During an interview with Complex, Durk admitted Cole had the better verse out of the pair. “He smoked my ass on that one, for one — barely,” he said. “That barely happens. But shout out to J Cole, shout out to [Dr] Luke, we made it happen.”
In his verse, Cole raps, “First-generation ghetto n*gga/ Cole world, hello n*ggas/ Made it out the city with my head on straight/ N*ggas keep shootin’ up the lead out Young Jordan Peele, gotta get out/ And the shit that I spit out/ Is a cheat code like I’m facin’ a RICO/ And how a n*gga put a hit out.”
On Apple Music 1, Durk revealed he waited two years for the J Cole collaboration to happen. “He went super crazy,” he said. “It’s so crazy because we’d been talking for like, two years, and he’d always be like, ‘Send me a record.’ And I’m like, ‘I gotta find the right record.’ I’m glad I waited two years.
“In my eyes, he a legend. If you have a chance to do a song with a legend, it be like, will you send them something just to send it, just to say you got one, or you gone make it stick? So, that’s why I never just sent him a record. ‘Cause I’m like, ‘I want something that’s gon’ stick.’ As soon as I did the record, he was the first person to pop in my head. Like, I got it. I believe in timing. Timing is everything.”
Not only was ‘All My Life’ a commercial success, but it also won Best Melodic Rap Performance at the Grammy Awards. The song finds Durk speaking about overcoming life’s battles, no matter the odds stacked against him.
“Whatever mood I’m in, I just go to the studio and just make the music,” he explained. “I just feel like a positive vibe went up with Dr Luke, you know what I’m saying? That’s the first song he played and I just felt it and I’m like, ‘Man, I want J Cole on this.’ And I made it happen. I’ve been talking to him, checking up on him, just seeing how he’s doing.”
He added, “You wait for the right moment for him to ask to be on the song. The song be big. I just wanted to be like, ‘I want J Cole on the song.’ So when we do the song, the first person popped in my head, I’m like, ‘I got to get J Cole on this.’”