Expectations For a Lil Durk & Lil Baby Collab Album

With the consistent teasing of new projects to come in 2021 amongst the Hip-Hop elite, I must admit the one project that continues to intrigue me is the pending Lil Durk and Lil Baby collab album. From the outside looking in, the joining of forces between two of Hip-Hop’s hottest artists is a no-brainer, but if we’re speaking from a musical perspective, I have my doubts. However, if their most recent song “Finesse Out The Gang Way” on Lil Durk’s “The Voice (Deluxe)” is any indication of the quality of music we could get out of a Durk/Baby collab, we may be in for a solid project.

In my view there a collab project can go one of two ways, the first being artists finding common ground with their contrasting styles and the second being artists with similar skillsets attempting to compliment each other on each track. There are multiple examples of successful collab projects using both techniques in recent history. Of course, there are examples of artists with limitless skillsets coming together to create great projects like Future’s collab discography with Young Thug, Juice WRLD, and Lil Uzi Vert. However, I don’t see Lil Baby and Lil Durk as artists with limitless skillsets to this point so, I’ll digress from that and focus on the two methods I previously illustrated.

“Without Warning,” a 2017 collab project between 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin, is the best-case scenario for any collab project, and a shining example of artists with contrasting styles finding common ground on the beat. 21 Savage’s dark vibe mixed with Offset’s high-energy lyrics and adlibs all on the beats of the GOAT Metro Boomin meshed together perfectly creating what is in my opinion, the best collab album since 2011. On “Without Warning” Offset had his first solo smash hit in “Ric Flair Drip,” 21 Savage had developed some new flows and Metro was Metro, one of the best producers in modern history. It can also be argued that the importance of this project comes from what each artist was able to do on their solo projects after “Without Warning” but I digress.

Interestingly enough, an example of a successful collab with artists with similar skillsets coming together is Lil Baby’s collab project with Gunna, “Drip Harder.” While I wasn’t a fan of the project in totality compared to “Without Warning,” I can’t deny the fact that track 12, “Drip Too Hard” is one of the best songs of 2018. Producing a smash hit like “Drip Too Hard” as well as collecting some impressive numbers, notably selling 130,000 units first week, especially for two artists who had just popped earlier in the year is in itself impressive. The smash-hit single, along with the numbers in addition to both artists making their presence and individuality felt throughout the album counts as a success in my eyes.

However, on the other side of the coin, there’s a danger when two artists with similar skillsets come together on a collab album. Enter the 2017 Travis Scott and Quavo collab album, “Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho,” the worst-case scenario for a collab project in my opinion. The project was filled with autotune-heavy songs that made it nearly impossible to distinguish between the two artists, leaving me disappointed that a project with that much hype fell so short.

I think Lil Durk and Lil Baby are closer to having similar skill sets than they are having contrasting styles. However, that depends on which Lil Durk shows up on this collab project, melodic Durk or no auto Durk and depending on the answer my expectations for this project can change drastically. Although I have a very positive feeling towards the presence of no auto Durk or in other words Lil Durk ditching the melodic autotune and giving us the aggressive raps he’s become known for. This comes from my view that the best collab projects have artists who can find common ground through their contrast and I think no auto Durk matched with Lil Baby’s fast-paced, melodic flow can make some waves.

However, for all I know this could all just be one big rumor that has been blown out of proportion with little to no intention behind it. After all, we’ve been teased with thoughts of a J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar collab project for so long, it’s become an annual April Fool’s joke. Ostensibly, this may be a project with an actual torso, with both artists increasingly being seen together and teasing the possibility of it coming out. The thought of these two artists being paired together is intriguing on paper, however, whether we actually get to hear a Lil Baby and Lil Durk album on wax remains to be seen.