Lil Durk Faces Backlash For Receiving Two Keys To The City Near Chicago

Lil Durk has done a lot for his community, but some folks have an issue with folks giving him credit for his efforts while perhaps downplaying others. If you hadn’t heard, he recently received the keys to the city in both Broadview and Bellwood, two villages a few miles outside of the downtown Chicago area, his home city. This is for Smurk’s philanthropic efforts through his Neighborhood Heroes Foundation and other initiatives to foster community betterment and impact its citizens in a positive way. While many fans supported and applauded this decision regarding the Deep Thoughts MC, others were more critical of the decision.

“Yall give any rappers a key… why not a teacher, firefighter, doctor and etc…?” one fan posited under the comments section of the Instagram post below. Others criticized the content matter of Lil Durk’s more violent or street-centric material, arguing that no city should champion messages like those. This debate isn’t exclusive to him, but it does represent the different views about the intersection between hip-hop, the industry, and larger society. In fact, it’s part of what’s surrounding the lawsuit against Durk and various others from FBG Duck’s mother. Check out the comments under the IG post below to see more reactions to these keys to the city.

Nevertheless, Lil Durk fans have a lot to look forward to in the near future, regardless of their thoughts on this matter. His aforementioned album Deep Thoughts may have been delayed, but at least he gave fans the “Opportunist” single to hold them over. Hopefully the LP drops sooner rather than later, and there’s plenty of time left in 2024 to work out a release before the year’s end.

Meanwhile, Lil Durk has a lot of other career endeavors to expand his resumé through beyond his philanthropic efforts. One of them was his acting debut on Power Book II: Ghost, which some fans clowned. Others, like Durk’s costar LaToya Tonodeo, had nothing but nice things to say, and hope that he considers participating in more productions. We’ll see whether that pans out, and whether his community engagement continues to positively impact lives.