Amid all the new music that dropped Friday was “Old Days,” the first Lil Durk single of 2024. Produced by Southside and Smatt, the mournful, reflective trap jam finds the Chicago rapper speaking openly about his struggles with addiction and angling for the brighter future he’s worked so hard to achieve. The song has found a home inside the Top 25 of the Genius Top Songs chart.
From the intro, you know “Old Days” is going to be a poignant song. Durk begins by chatting with family members who don’t care anything about his millions. They just want to see him and catch up, and that means everything.
You know, I been talkin’ to my family on group FaceTime
They don’t ask me for nothin’, they just tell me that they miss me, know what I’m sayin'?
I be, I be tellin’ ’em it ain’t about money, but I’ma send it anyways
Know what I’m sayin’? I love y’all
In the first verse, Durk recalls how physically ill he felt seeing photos of his friend King Von after he was shot and killed in November 2020. In the old days, Durk would treat the pain of these and other traumas by abusing prescription drugs. Now he’s in a better place, and he helped his friend Doodie Lo treat his addiction, too. (Shoutout to Genius user @mysterioususer for the annotation explaining the Doodie situation.)
The autopsy of Von body had me coughin’ up my vomit
I miss the old days, the old ways, my history iconic
I was takin’ so many pills, I was so high, I really abused it
Started sellin’ Percs, I turned around and started to use it
Took my name off rehab, I replaced my name with Doodie’s
Toward the end of the verse, Durk says he’d like to be Chicago’s version of Meek Mill, the Philly rapper who’s become an advocate for criminal justice reform in his community. Last December, for example, Meek joined Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro as he signed three probation reform bills into law.
I want the politics in my pocket, I wanna treat the ’Raq like Meek
But it’s me, I’ll do everything to show them I ain’t weak
I’m the streets, who ever thought I’d make a million off of beats?
And it’s Smurk now, they can make millions off of me
In the second verse, Durk rhymes about the violence and poverty that still plague his neighborhood of Englewood. He illustrates both by revealing that the closest hospital to him is not equipped to handle gunshot victims. As Genius user @777TT points out, Durk rapped a similar line on 2018’s “Neighborhood Hero.”
Play with me, get backdoored, he rather let the oppers do it
Don’t get shot on my block ’cause St. Bernard ain’t got no trauma unit (Oh)
“Old Days” is slated to appear on Durk’s forthcoming album Love 4 The Streets 3. The song’s music video features Durk rapping on a seaside cliff at sunset.
You can read all the lyrics to “Old Days” on Genius now.
