Lil Durk Dives Into the Pros and Cons of Being a Major Label Artist vs. Independent

Lil Durk tends to keep his focus solely on his music with the recent release of his new EP, Just ’Cause Y'all Waited, but he's not shy about sharing his opinions and wisdom when the opportunity arises.

The Chicago rapper sits down for XXL's Views series to share his thoughts on different topics including artists choosing to sign with major labels vs. being independent. Durk, who's now an indie artist after recently parting ways with Def Jam, tackles the topic by comparing the careers of Logic and Chance The Rapper—Logic is signed to Def Jam while Chance has stayed on the independent path. Both artists have gone on to become major superstars on the road and on the charts.

"It's different strokes for like different artists," Durk explains. "It's like you got the Logics or you got Chance. The situation for Logic probably don't work for Chance, or the situation with Chance probably don't work for Logic. When you independent, you gotta have your money right. You got to pay for studio. You got to pay for traveling. Even some artists gotta pay for features or your own living ability.

"So it's like, if you ain't got it, it's going downhill. Some artists that work with labels, you're a priority. It's different. He'd probably not be a priority inside the label, but he is, so he gon' get all the looks, he gon' get all the shine and charted songs. But he's not ’cause he ain't no priority. So it could work both ways."

Durk also gets candid about Lil Xan's controversial comments about Tupac Shakur, calling the late hip-hop icon's music "boring." The "1-773-Vulture" rapper defends Xan, explaining that he has a right to his opinion, but does mention that his delivery may have been in poor taste.

"Do you think that if he said that about Jay-Z or Nas he'd get the same reaction that he did with Tupac?" Durk asks. "They gotta understand that it's a new wave. You really can't get mad at him for not knowing about Tupac or not knowing his lyrics or even saying it's boring. That's his opinion. You can't just get mad at him like that, but it's how you word it. He could have worded it better. Your opinion is your opinion. It's freedom of speech. You could say whatever you want to say."

He also discusses his thoughts on phone etiquette and the drive to create your own business. Durk knows a thing or two about the latter since he's launched two businesses with the help of his inner circle: A&B Real Estate Management, a real estate company, and Asking About Trucking, a trucking business.

Check out Lil Durk's Views in the video below.

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