Chicago rapper
Lil Durk rose out of his city's drill scene as one of the early proponents of the melodic sung/rapped delivery style that would become a calling card of Chicago rappers in the late 2010s. Love Songs 4 the Streets 2 stays primarily in the arena of struggle bars, and stories of raw street life and cold-blooded crime, occasionally taking time out for scandalous sex rhymes.
Durk's flows change up between the mixtape's best material. He offers up relentless, seething couplets on the
King Von-assisted "Like That," where grinding trap rhythms and dark instrumentals back up two minutes-and-45 seconds of nonstop threats. Songs like "Prada You" and "David Ruffin" lean more toward the plaintive sung style whereas the
21 Savage-featuring "Die Slow" is a slow-boiling revenge song with a chorus so angry and out for blood it's chilling. The 16 songs use a wide variety of stylistic approaches while centering around
Durk's lyrical narratives of desperation and survival. While not all of it feels essential, the high points are fantastic examples of the rapper at his best. ~ Fred Thomas