Lil Durk talks Jay-Z, ‘The Voice 2.0’ and more

Lil Durk is inspired by Jay-Z, but it turns he’s a motivation to Hov, as well.

In his cover story for XXL, he shared some of the reasons he looks up to Jay, noting, “Look what he did. Résumé speak for itself. He used to be in this position.”

“He used to be the underdog,” Durk continued. “The streets used to take him under. And he bossed up, nah’m sayin’? You ain’t see him post pictures every day tryna fit in.”

Durk says when he ran into Jay at Michael Rubin’s party last year Hov shared a few memorable words with him.

“He like, ‘Man, you motivate me.’ Man, f*** me up. I forgot my reply to him, ’cause it was on a walk-by,” says Durk. “The reply ain’t make no damn sense ’cause it shocked me. I’m like, ‘What the f***?’ Damn, that’s hard.”

He says those words from Hov are “just motivation,” noting, “It was for a reason I was standing right there when he walked past at the time.” He hopes to put his team and family on and “just build an empire outside of music” like Hov did with Roc-A-Fella.

Until then, Durk is working on The Voice 2.0, which reflects his growth in different aspects of his life. 

“That’s what the 2.0 stand for, just be on another level. Just not only music-wise, like the things around me like I told you, growing from the friends around me, management. Sitting with the mayor. We doin’ big charity things. Neighborhood Heroes, the foundation I got,” he says. 

Durk also discusses starting therapy, getting his GED and whether fans will ever get the No Auto Durk project with Metro Boomin or a Future collab album.