This is Lil’ Durk. He’s a rapper from Chicago.
He is currently on trial in a federal court in Los Angeles. Prosecutors allege Durk orchestrated a shooting to avenge the death of his friend. This shooting was aimed at an Atlanta-area rapper and resulted in the death of that rapper’s cousin.
I do not have any opinion on whether Lil’ Durk was involved in the shooting. I have no desire to weigh the evidence in this case or offer an opinion on the likelihood of any particular outcome.
I’m interested in the pressure applied to Lil’ Durk in the months after his friend’s death and the competing advice he received. Because even if Lil’ Durk had nothing to do with the shooting he has been charged for, he has said things over the past couple of years that would make a person suspect he might have.
Why would he do that?
To understand that, we have to go back to his friend, King Von.
Inciting incident
Like Lil’ Durk, King Von was from Chicago. He was a rapper, too. Durk and Von were friends and collaborated on music.
In November 2020, King Von was shot and killed outside an Atlanta nightclub. He was 26. The shooting occurred after Von had gotten into a fistfight with a rapper from Georgia known as Quando Rondo.
Following the killing of Von, Lil’ Durk received competing advice on how to handle the death of his friend.
On the one hand, he was urged to consider a compassionate route.
This advice came from Wallo, host of the popular podcast “Million Dollars Worth of Game.” Wallo and his co-host Gillie da Kid—a rapper himself, albeit an older one—flew to Chicago to interview Lil’ Durk.
The three men sat at a table, racks of money stacked in front of Lil’ Durk. Just over an hour into the interview, at 1:06:50, Wallo began talking about young men “erasing each other.” He then referenced a decision he made following the murder of his older brother.
“I forgave my brother’s killer,” Wallo said.
This occurred many years earlier, when Wallo was in prison. He has come to see this decision not to seek revenge as a turning point in his life.
“It was harder than a (something not so nice),” Wallo said to Durk. “This is my big brother. I shared the cell with him. I shared the bed with him when we were kids …
“But I can tell you one thing, now I’m out here taking care of his daughter, paying for her to go to school, taking care of my nephew. Taking care of my momma and my grandmama because I forgave my brother’s killer.”
What I found most moving about the exchange is the way Durk stared at Wallo as he was talking.
The allure of revenge
There was another rapper named 6ix9ine, who suggested a different approach in his song Gine:
Your man got shot and you made a diss track/Go get a gun and get some get back.
Your man got shot, he not coming back/Go get a gun and get some get back.
This fellow, known for his rainbow-colored hair, is not from Chicago. In fact, he made a reputation for himself in part by questioning the toughness of Chicago rappers, taunting them.
I consider 6ix9ine to be more a fiend for Internet attention than a serious artist. He was not alone in his opinion of Durk, however. For more than a year after King Von’s killing, any statement or song from Lil’ Durk that appeared on the Internet would result in multiple people responding with a three-word refrain: Slide for Von.
It was something between a challenge and a taunt. There was an expectation that Lil’ Durk exact some form of retribution for the death of his friend.
In August 2022 — almost two years after King Von’s death — there was a shooting in Los Angeles. Gunfire was trained on an SUV that contained Quando Rondo, a Georgia rapper. While Quando Rondo was not killed, a friend and fellow rapper named Lul Pab was. Quando Rondo’s agonized reaction to his friend’s murder was partly captured on video.
This is the shooting that Lil’ Durk is on trial for.
As stated earlier, I do not have any opinion on whether Lil’ Durk was involved in the shooting. I’m not following the testimony nor scrutinizing the evidence.
However, in the years after the shooting, Lil’ Durk has said things that would make a person suspect he might have had something to do with it.
The clearest example came during an interview with DJ Akademiks, a prominent streamer in the area of hip-hop.
Akademiks: Do you get triggered by the, ‘Slide for Von,’ comments still? I don’t know if people still say it. They used to say it, but you also mentioned it in a song, they be saying, ‘Slide for Von, I think they trolling me.’ By the way, that song was fire, I’m not going to lie.
Durk: For some reason, I just don’t see them comments no more.
For some odd reason. I don’t know. Might be the water. You be seeing them comments a lot?
Akademiks: They kind of chilled out a little bit.
Durk: Yeah. I wonder why.
The case was discussed on Joe Budden’s podcast, and Lamar “Ice” Burney—who is part of the cast and a fan of Durk’s music—said he thought he’d picked up hints he’d heard in the rapper’s lyrics.
“I’ve been saying for months, maybe longer than months, maybe a year or so: Is it me or does it seem like this [dude] is trying to tell y’all, ‘Hey, I got my get back.’ In mad verses. It’s like, ‘I’m dying for you all to know.’ “
I want to make it very clear that I don’t believe any of this is evidence of Durk’s involvement. Lyrics are not sworn statements. They are not facts. They can be exaggerated and made up to create an image or a persona in the same way heavy-metal lyrics can be exaggerated and made up to create an image or a persona.
What I do find telling, however, is that it speaks to the expectation or pressure that Durk felt to do something.
Even if he had nothing to do with it, he didn’t mind people thinking he might have.
Our muddled minds
I’ve seen some people use this case as an example of the fatal implications of conflict among hip-hop artists in general and drill rappers in particular.
It’s worth pointing out that vigilante justice and personal retribution are not confined to a single genre of music or city in this country.
I see this story as a specific example of a much broader pattern of behavior that can be traced back to when human beings first began living in groups.
We, as a species, have a documented tendency to want to harm those we believe have harmed us. This ability and willingness to strike back was a survival skill. It kept others from stealing our stuff. From an evolutionary perspective, an easy mark wouldn’t stick around very long.
As human society developed, as it became more complex and more codified, different traits became valuable. The ability to forgive, to compromise, to resolve conflict and resume cooperation without resorting to violence, lethal or otherwise. You don’t need to rely on retaliation to deter intruders or to avenge the death of a beloved brother. In fact, that sort of revenge—in many cases—is now illegal.
That doesn’t completely override our desire for revenge, though.
It competes with it.
We, as fellow members of society, have an opportunity to provide nudges and guidance for those who may be feeling these competing influences.
When I look at that video of Lil’ Durk sitting at the table alongside Gillie and Wallo, I see a young man who is honestly and earnestly looking at someone he knows and respects.
“I forgave my brother’s killer,” Wallo said.
That’s what allowed Wallo to leave prison and make a living that he now shares with his brother’s children.
Lil’ Durk is not shrugging this off. He is not calling it corny. He is listening.
But Wallo wasn’t the only one talking in the months after King Von’s death.
There were other people rapping about get-back and morons in the comments posting “Slide for Von.”
I don’t know what effect that had on Lil’ Durk. Like I said, I have no idea whether he was actually involved in the subsequent shooting.
What I do know is none of that could have possibly helped him resist the allure of revenge.