Lil Durk has tossed several rap labels — and rappers — under the proverbial bus, claiming that he gets paid to beef with them, presumably to raise their profile.
Taking to Twitter on Friday (May 12), Durkio made his explosive claim while emphasizing that he was “unpredictable.”
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Though it wasn’t clear which recent “beef” he was referring to, it may have been a swipe at his recent ongoing (and seemingly one-sided) feud with Soulja Boy, who called him out alongside NBA YoungBoy.
“Labels try to pay me to beef I just can’t fake it I’m different I’m him unpredictable,” he wrote.
Labels try to pay me to beef I just can’t fake it I’m different I’m him unpredictable
— THE VOICE (@lildurk) May 12, 2023
Back in 2002, The New York Times reported that beef was a big business for Hip Hop, generating a gob-smacking $1.6billion a year for the industry.
The outlet further revealed that thanks to the ravenous nature of the music business, with many managers, agents, and other sundry executives taking the lion’s share of the rapper’s profits, beef was essential because it generates publicity — which translates to sales — at little to no cost for the artist.
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Rap executives, especially, see this sort of publicity as a good thing for everyone’s bottom line. “The moment you see it, you deal with it,” Lyor Cohen said to the outlet at the time. “They have a great opportunity to change the socioeconomic course of their families for generations to come, and we remind them of that.”
This 20-year-old New York Times report — which also featured quotes from Ja Rule and Elliott Wilson, who was the editor of XXL Magazine at the time — combined with Lil Durk’s seemingly flippant comment, puts the “What Happened to Virgil” rapper’s recent feud with NBA YoungBoy in a whole new light.
YoungBoy had plenty of smoke for Durkio with the arrival of his new project Richest Opp on Friday (May 12), and trolled the OTF honcho in a Twitter video while flexing stacks of cash.
“Bitch ass n-gga, you pushed back. You bet not ever try it again. Don’t play with me. Flood my watch, mama, this Lil Top, n-gga,” the Baton Rouge native said in the clip while dancing to “I Got That Shit,” one of 17 new tracks off his aforementioned project.
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YoungBoy kept his foot on Durk’s neck by replying to a tweet from the Chicago native promoting his new single “All My Life” with J. Cole, which also arrived on Friday.
“It’s been up you a bitch n-gga stay down ‘You bet not drop,’” he write, before adding: “Bitch you ain’t never gone troll of a gangster again.”
