While listening to the “Almost healed” album I thought it was very well put together. It released May 26 with a variety of amazing features that were a part of this project. Some of them included Alicia Keys, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Juice World, J Cole and many more. This is the first album I have ever fully listened to from Lil Durk. His main genre of music that he sings is rap. I have enjoyed the songs that he has done in the past, like “Laugh Now Cry Later,” which was a song by Drake that featured Lil Durk. This album primarily talks about the struggles that Lil Durk deals with, and learning how to heal from traumatic moments like losing one of his best friends who was also an artist by the name of King Von. He also talks a lot about going to therapy in his songs, fighting the stigma of going to therapy and confronting his problems with vulnerability and with his emotions. But overall this album is not what I expected. I thought the album was going to be mainly hardcore rap, but it was actually a very soothing album —  in the way that it felt more fluid in the lyrics, wasn’t that quick and had harmony in the songs. 

I enjoyed  the majority of the songs on this album. The songs that I thought stood out from the other songs were “All my life,” featuring J. Cole, and “Therapy Session,” featuring Alicia Keys. These were just some of the songs that I really enjoyed out of the whole album. But in general this whole album was very delightful. They weren’t really rap driven songs, with how most rap songs are portrayed.

When I listen to the song “All my Life” featuring J. Cole, I see that Lil Durk is trying to show that he isn’t the person that the people, news and media assume him to be. They think he is a gangster who is a criminal, but these lyrics show how much he cares about his image, his community and the people around him. This song has amazing lyrics from both Lil Durk and J. Cole (who is already such a talented singer and rapper in the music space). I also loved the background music in this song that consisted of a church choir, which to me made the song seem very wholesome and honestly just a vibe. In the lyrics it said, “they’ve been trying to keep me down” and “but the media called me a menace,” which shows that Lil Durk is speaking the truth about who he actually is as a person and that the media and people are trying to  spread a false and negative narrative about him. 

Another song I enjoyed was the song, “Therapy Session,” which features Alicia Keys. This isn’t really a song, more of a narrating song. This is the intro to this album. It kind of tells you what most of the album speaks on. This intro speaks on some really heavy topics that Lil Durk is facing right now in his life. I just really like the way that Alicia Keys narrated it. I think she has a very lovely voice and the way she spoke about Lil Durk and his problems felt more impactful. Some standout lyrics, “it’s okay to express your vulnerabilities and emotions,” “this is a judgement free zone and I encourage you to let your emotions out” and “despite all this, you continue to be a warrior, a leader in the rap industry.” These are just some of the main messages that we see are more outlined in the rest of the album. These topics that were mentioned in the lyrics have a lot of stigma around them, especially for men. It’s hard to spread your own emotions and vulnerability when you have to act a certain way and put your guard up.  

These two songs showed a lot of what this album is about. It talks about Lil Durks life and all the challenges he faces from both within himself and outside with public media. It just shows that he is willing to express his issues through music. I really liked that about this album. Also, for it being the first album of Lil Durk that I have ever listened to, I was impressed. With a consistent amount of the album genuinely being good which is surprising considering it lists 21 tracks over the span of 55 minutes but for it to keep my attention for that long made me realize how good it was. I really think you should give this album a listen. Even if you are not someone who is not into rap music, this album tackles a lot of important topics that are spread through good songs. I would highly recommend.

“Almost Healed”: ★★★★★