“Voice of the Heroes” by Lil Baby & Lil Durk

On this song Lil Durk and Lil Baby come off as vets in the game which, despite respectively being 28 and 26 years of age at age, they actually are. That is to say that whereas “Voice of the Heroes” does feature the type of boastings that we have come to expect from these artists, there is also a humble and to some degree even advisory tone therein, especially during the earlier three-fourths of the song.

Lil Durk

Lil Durk’s first verse comprehensively alludes to the idea that he paid his dues before blowing up. For instance, at a point in time he was locked down. This affected him most adversely since he had to spend an entire year away from his children. The rapper also recounts days where he held performances that no one showed up to. 

Additionally, he was the type who used to lookout for his homeys even back in the days when he wasn’t racking like that. And in terms of ‘stacking bricks’ he was encouraged by his brother, who is actually younger than he is. And there are a number of other personal musings regarding Durk’s lifestyle and ideologies. One such example is the fact that he always keeps his lawyer well paid just in case of emergencies. 

And he closes out the passage by pointing out his preference for Percocet over Xanax, both of which are heavily-referenced drugs in the modern era of hip-hop.

Lil Baby

Meanwhile Lil Baby’s first verse is a bit more self-centered, for lack of a better word. But therein he perhaps drops perhaps the most-memorable line of the entire song, when Baby notes that despite his monumental success, he still doesn’t feel “too big” to take good advice. 

Also let it be known that he is actually “the hero” in the equation. And his heroism is manifested for instance by the vocalist ‘showing all his n*ggas in the trenches’, i.e. the homeys he grew up with, that there’s “a better life” out there than just cleaving to the ‘hood.

Lil Durk and Lil Baby

Then Lil Durk’s terse second verse is centered more on his interactions with romantic interest. And the most catching part of Lil Baby’s own shortened second verse is him noting that he rather prefers Adderall to Percocet.

And there is also a lot more going on in this song that we haven’t even mentioned, such as Durk witnessing his uncle die during his youth and Baby’s various references to his wealth and success. As such, it’s sort of difficult to encapsulate “Voice of the Heroes” into a singular thesis sentiment.

But what does seem obvious, with this being both the title and lead-off track to the album it is featured on, is that said undertaking, at least to some extent, is not going to be your standard money/guns/b*tches type of rap fare. 

Instead with Lil Durk being “the Voice” and Lil Baby verily “the Hero”, it appears that they are going to actually try to stick to these characters by dropping songs a bit more substantive than what we’re used to. And such is also the general idea that the chorus is based on, that the pair, being “the voice of heroes”, actually has something to say that we need to hear. But it remains to be seen exactly what direction they take this project in.

Facts about “Voice of the Heroes”

This is the title track, if you will, of a project that is actually entitled “The Voice of the Heroes”. And as with the song, said undertaking a collaborative effort between Durk and Baby. And whereas this is their first joint album, of course they have collaborated on tracks prior to the release of this one on 31 May 2021. Their first proper collaboration was apparently a 2018 Lil Durk joint entitled Downfall.

Lil Baby (Atlanta) and Lil Durk (Chicago) are two rappers from completely different parts of the country and signed to different labels. As such quite a few record companies were involved in the release of “The Voice of the Heroes”. On Durk’s side there is Alamo Records and Only The Family. And Baby is represented by the following labels:

• Quality Control Music
• Capitol Records
• Wolfpack Global Music
• 4PF
• Motown Records

The two rappers involved are amongst the writers of this song. And its producers, Haze and TouchofTrent, are also credited in that regard.

NOTE

As of the release of this track, Durk was actually locked up twice, with both bids combined equally less than six months. His first stint was in 2011, doing three months on a weapon’s charge. And he did another bid in 2013 for a little over a month on another weapon’s charge. Also he has seven children, though it doesn’t give details on their dates of birth.