Music
Remember My Name
Chicago rapper's fast rise to fame hasn't dulled his sharp edges
Three summers ago, rap found a new center in Chicago. Lil Durk joined artists like Chief Keef, Lil Reese and Young Chop as their unfiltered street rhymes went from local to national fame in a blink. Durk’s major-label debut sticks to the mood of melodic exasperation that’s carried throughout his previous work. On “Ghetto,” he remembers growing up on Chicago’s South Side: “Times I ain’t eat nothing/Going to school just to eat lunch/No cable, watching reruns.” And whatever success Durk has found lately, this isn’t an album that revels in it (see the paranoid “Higher”). He’s nowhere near forgetting how hard times were for him, and remain for so many in his hometown.