Lil Durk “7220” Album Review

7220

Lil Durk

• Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
• Release Date: 2022-03-11
• Explicitness: explicit
• Country: International
• Track Count: 17
• ℗ 2022 Alamo Records, LLC/Sony Music Entertainment

Named after the address of his childhood home, ‘7220’ invites the listener into Lil Durk’s world, a realm framed by the spectre of death, chemical abuse, and a suffocating lack of material exits. The album pivots between major league production and harsh introversion, with its relentlessly visceral rhymes documenting loss, addiction, and violence – against others and the self.

7220’ is a vastly potent work, one that is unafraid to stare down ugly truths; half-in-love with the world around him, he moves from the elixir of criminality to some of his most profound observations on the art. This project seems to absorb its flaws into a riveting broader canvas. A record in which self-aggrandisement and self-doubt are coiled into one, the project finds Lil Durk facing up to his faults, and owning them, while never abandoning the landscapes that framed him.

Album Cover Artwork

A blurry yet straightforward but rare picture of the rapper taken in his childhood is seen on the album cover. Because the artist is taking us back to where it all began, he uses every part of the album to express that, including the cover artwork. His face is seen next to the album title, “7220”, which also happens to be his grandma’s addy, the home in which he was born and bred.

So this is basically welcoming us into Durk’s childhood and allowing us to see and experience an extension of his childhood emotions both through photo and sound.

Tracks & Features

Early highlights like ‘Started From’ and ‘Shootout @ My Crib’ are dominated by blunt, often brutal landscapes; mindsets shaped by poverty engage in violence, but he also takes time to discuss the bonds forged in its wake. ‘No Interviews’ feels like a seismic moment, Lil Durk warning you to “put your head down in the trenches” as the shots ring out.

“Headtaps” are the thing that will resonate with people. It’s the perfect mix between vulnerable and braggadocios. It’s actually pretty fantastic how Durk mixes emotional vocals with raps that are delivered feverishly and steadily.

Tracks

NO	Title	Time
1	Started From	2:01
2	Headtaps	2:53
3	AHHH HA	3:06
4	Shootout @ My Crib	2:33
5	Golden Child	1:54
6	No Interviews	2:59
7	Petty Too (feat. Future)	2:39
8	Barbarian	2:29
9	What Happened To Virgil (feat. Gunna)	3:01
10	Grow Up/Keep It On Speaker	3:16
11	Smoking & Thinking	2:27
12	Blocklist	2:06
13	Difference Is (feat. Summer Walker)	3:13
14	Federal Nightmares	2:31
15	Love Dior Banks	3:11
16	Pissed Me Off	2:03
17	Broadway Girls (feat. Morgan Wallen)	3:05

“AHHH HA” is intense. Backed by a riveting, up-tempo beat, Lil Durk drops ferocious bars about losing friends, ducking the feds, being ready for war, and studying his foes. The song is that release that feels like a chess move for the Chicago rapper, as, throughout it, he takes subliminal shots at his foes and comes across as someone who is plotting the ultimate revenge plan.

‘Smoking & Thinking’ present Durk at his most open, yet also most introspective, but songs such as ‘Federal Nightmares’ are unafraid to take down the inequalities of the world around him. An album dominated by survivor’s guilt, the braggadocio of ‘Pissed Me Off’ features some of Durk’s harshest bars, a reminder that the glaring news headlines that accompany ghetto violence could so easily be linked to his name.

Future adds light and shade to ‘Pretty Too’, while Gunna’s effervescent approach adds something distinctive to ‘What Happened To Virgil’. Summer Walker comes through to steal the show with her golden streak continuing on the gorgeous ‘Difference Is’.

Closing out the album and coming in at track number 17 is the beautiful “Broadway Girls” featuring country musician, Morgan Wallen, his fourth and final feature. The song is a forewarning to be wary of women and why they should be left alone. The perfect collab where hip-hop had a rhythmic dance with country.

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