Lil Durk: The Chicago rap star talks J. Cole collaboration, a decade in the game and meeting Allen Iverson

There’s never a dull moment when it comes to Lil Durk. The Chicago rap heavyweight recently chopped it up with Apple Music Radio’s Nadeska on a flurry of topics ranging from his growth as a hit-making musician to getting the chance to meet living NBA legend Allen Iverson.

The entire interview is insanely fire and if you’re looking for those key moments, peep some key quotes below and keep scrolling to see Durkio chopping it up.

Lil Durk on the success and popularity of “All My Life” featuring J. Cole and how the feature came to be…

Shout out to J. Cole. Even just to have that type of music out, just on a positive level, feels super, super good.

I think that the J. Cole feature was definitely unexpected for my fans. He went super crazy. And it's so crazy, because we've been talking for two years. He always be like, "Send me a record," and I'm like, "I got to find the right record."

And I'm glad I waited two years, because in my eyes he's a legend. So if you have a chance to do a song with legend, do you send him something just to send it, just to say you got one, or you're going to make it stick? So that's why I never just sent him a record, because I want something that's going to stick.

As soon as I did the record, he was the first person that popped into my head. I'm like, "I got it."

Lil Durk reflects on where he was 10 years ago versus now…

Yeah, a lot can change from then to now. You can tell the big difference on just character, the music, the beat selection, the entourage. Everything has changed from that point, but that's where it started from. That's where I get my motivation from.

Honestly, I didn't even have a direction. I didn't even have a goal. I didn't know I'd be a real artist. I'd be doing arenas and festivals and stuff like that, so at that time I was just doing it just on some local, "I got the trenches on lock," type stuff. So my vision wasn't as big as I would've thought it had been.

Lil Durk on having people like Swizz Beats as mentors…

It's important. Where I'm from, they don't really do it like that. So I'm saying ain't a lot of leaders, where I'm from. It's like whatever make money, the quick money. If it's violence, if it's this, they going to get to the money, but people like Swizz, and like my daddy, my mom, and a couple more people in my life, we've got something to prove, to show them we're going to be the difference and we're going to change the world. Because if you just look at this whole Chicago, it's like everybody doing the same thing: Not too many want to change a lot. A lot trying to change, but can't change because ain't no way to. So I hope I could be a platform for them.

Lil Durk on how he continues to turn out project after project…

I'm really like a studio head. Yeah, I'm just so much of a fan of music. I just spend all my time doing music. So when you say "having fun", when I actually do go have fun, we feel just super good. No bad energy. Then do therapy, then talk to your friends. Let me give you an example. So if I got my kids, and one of my guys probably see his kids but not like that, it'll motivate him to keep his kids around more. That's how I got motivated too, by bond.

Lil Durk on religion…

It keeps me sane. It keeps me stress-free. I don't really look at everything like, "Oh, he got good luck. He got..." I believe in a higher power. As I say, the rug is what we pray on. So whatever you believe in, whoever you believe in, if you believe in them and you've been through a lot of stuff in your life and you at a peaceful place, going to a happy place, I think you should get more into your religion.

Lil Durk on meeting NBA Legend Allen Iverson…

It was funny because it was me and French Montana in the club, and Allen Iverson pointed and I thought he pointed at me. So I'm doing all this shit, and they walk up to me. He walked to French. 

So I played it off like, "Damn, I thought you were talking to me." Then he turns around, like, "Man, bro, I fuck with you." I'm like, "Oh..." So that was one of the moments, with me and Allen Iverson.