| Born | 19 October 1992 (age 33 years), Englewood, Chicago, Illinois, United States |
|---|---|
| Full name | Durk Devontay Banks |
| Spouse | India Royale (m. 2024) |
| Religion | Muslim |
What religion is Lil Durk?
Lil Durk is an American rap artist who is a practicing Muslim. He was raised Christian but converted to Islam later. Durk has publicly identified as Muslim since at least around 2020.
Lil Durk emerged from Chicago’s drill music scene in the early 2010s, releasing his breakout mixtapes like “Life Ain’t No Joke” (2012) and “Signed to the Streets” (2013). His raw lyrics about street life in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood and melodic delivery style helped establish him as a pioneer of the drill movement alongside Chief Keef. After signing with Def Jam Recordings and later establishing his own imprint, Only the Family (OTF), Lil Durk solidified his place as both an artist and mentor. He cultivated the careers of stars like the late King Von while continuing to release acclaimed projects of his own. Album releases and mixtapes such as “The Voice” and “7220” showcased his versatility, while collaborations with artists ranging from Drake to Travis Scott expanded his influence far beyond Chicago. His unique ability to channel trauma into chart-topping street anthems further cemented his reputation as a cultural disruptor and one of the defining voices of his era.
Lil Durk’s commercial peak reached new heights with his 2022 studio album 7220, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and produced platinum-certified hits. In 2023, he followed up with Almost Healed, an album that leaned even more into personal reflection and mainstream crossover success. Alongside his solo dominance, his appearance on massive collaborative tracks including Drake’s multi-platinum hit “Laugh Now Cry Later” propelled him into global stardom. His artistic evolution was formally recognized when his hit single “All My Life,” featuring J. Cole, won a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance.
Unfortunately, Lil Durk has experienced significant legal issues during his career. He was arrested by federal authorities in late 2024 and hit with a severe superseding indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Federal prosecutors expanded the case to include heavy racketeering and stalking charges, alleging that he orchestrated a retaliatory bounty plot targeting rival rapper Quando Rondo following the 2020 killing of King Von. The complex, multi-defendant case centers around a 2022 ambush shooting at a Los Angeles gas station that resulted in the death of Quando Rondo’s cousin.
As of mid-2026, Lil Durk remains in federal custody without bond after a judge denied a multi-million dollar private home-confinement package. Following intense pretrial hearings regarding the separation of charges and the complex nature of the discovery, a Los Angeles federal judge officially rescheduled the joint trial to begin on August 20, 2026. If convicted on the top federal counts, including murder-for-hire resulting in death and racketeering, the rapper faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.
Early life
Durk Devontay Banks was born on October 19, 1992, in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. His father was arrested when Durk was just seven months old and sentenced to life for running a crack cocaine operation and would not be released until 2019, after serving 26 years. With his father behind bars, the family’s financial stability vanished. Subsequently, Durk attended Paul Robeson High School but dropped out during his senior year after joining the Black Disciples gang, a path that led to an October 2011 arrest on gun charges. It was during a six-month jail stint following a 2013 arrest that he became a father for the first time. Around this same period, after deals with Chief Keef’s and French Montana‘s labels fell through, he began taking music seriously, releasing his earliest mixtapes through his own collective, Only the Family (OTF), starting with I’m a Hitta in 2011.
Career
Lil Durk built his name the hard way, through a relentless run of street mixtapes in the early 2010s before signing with Def Jam Recordings, which released his debut studio album, Remember My Name, in 2015. The album debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200, and its single “Like Me” became his first RIAA gold certification. A second album, Lil Durk 2X, followed in 2016, but after a lukewarm commercial run, he and Def Jam parted ways in 2018. He self-released the mixtape Just Cause Y’all Waited that March before signing with Alamo Records that July.
His commercial fortunes turned sharply in 2020. “Viral Moment” gave him his first entry as a lead artist on the Billboard Hot 100, and that momentum carried into the albums “Just Cause Y’all Waited 2” and “The Voice,” both of which peaked at number two. He also scored his highest-charting song to date with a feature on Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later.” In 2021, his collaborative album with Lil Baby, The Voice of the Heroes, gave him his first number-one album on the Billboard 200, and he followed it solo in 2022 with “7220,” which also debuted at number one, becoming his first solo chart-topper and spawning the Morgan Wallen collaboration “Broadway Girls.”
His eighth album, Almost Healed, arrived in 2023, debuting at number three and producing “All My Life” with J. Cole, which peaked at number two on the Hot 100 and won him his first Grammy, for Best Melodic Rap Performance, in 2024. His ninth album, Deep Thoughts, followed in March 2025, also debuting at number three despite delays tied to his arrest. Across his catalog, Durk has built a reputation as one of melodic drill’s most commercially dominant figures, founding the Chicago collective Only the Family (OTF) in 2010, which launched the career of the late King Von, and racking up a steady stream of Billboard hits both as a lead artist and a sought-after feature for artists like Cardi B, Kanye West, and DJ Khaled.
Grammy Recognition
Lil Durk earned his first Grammy nomination through a feature on Kanye West’s Donda, nominated for Album of the Year in 2022, but it wasn’t until February 2024 that he secured an actual win. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, Durk won Best Melodic Rap Performance after three previous nominations, taking home the trophy for “All My Life” featuring J. Cole, the lead single from his eighth studio album, Almost Healed. The song beat out SZA‘s “Low,” Drake and 21 Savage’s “Spin Bout U,” Doja Cat’s “Attention,” and Burna Boy and 21 Savage’s “Sittin’ on Top of the World” to claim the category. Durk has been nominated for the Grammys four times in total, with the win for “All My Life” remaining his sole victory to date.
Philanthropy
Durk has been active in philanthropy throughout his career. In 2020, he launched the Neighborhood Heroes Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to empowering everyday heroes. One of its earliest initiatives saw the foundation partner with the nonprofit Chicago Votes to supply the Illinois Department of Corrections with 29,000 bottles of hand sanitizer for inmates and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Later on, the program partnered with the Brooklyn Nets to bring students to St. John’s University for further career exposure, with the foundation having serviced 50 students and awarded $100,000 in college scholarships to date.
Personal life
Durk’s cousin OTF Nunu was shot and killed in 2014, his friend and manager Uchenna “Chino Dolla” Agina was shot dead in 2015, his close friend and collaborator King Von was fatally shot outside a nightclub in 2020, and his own brother Dontay “DThang” Banks Jr. was shot and killed outside a Chicago nightclub in 2021. Weeks later, Durk himself was targeted in a home invasion, exchanging gunfire with intruders alongside India, though no one was harmed.
Duck recently returned from rehab to address a dependence on codeine and Xanax and had entered therapy to process the trauma of losing so many people close to him to violence over the years. That period of progress was upended by his federal arrest later that same year, a case that remains ongoing as of mid-2026. In addition, Durk is the father of six children, each from a different mother.
Legal history
In 2011, Lil Durk was arrested and sentenced to jail time on a weapons charge, serving 87 days behind bars. Two years later, Chicago police arrested him again after finding him with a handgun, leading to a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, tied to an earlier 2012 conviction for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon that had landed him a one-year prison sentence. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and felony possession of a firearm after being seen carrying a gun on a Chicago street, though he was spared jail time.
A separate 2016 felony gun charge tied to a probation violation was ultimately dropped by the judge. Most seriously, prior to the current case, Durk and King Von were charged in 2019 with criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, and participation in criminal gang activity, tied to a February 2019 drive-by shooting outside The Varsity restaurant in Atlanta that left a man wounded in the leg.
Durk is also currently being sued by the mother of slain Chicago rapper FBG Duck, who alleges Durk and his record label profited off Duck’s 2020 murder.
