Released: 2019 • Features: Lil Durk
“Brothers” by Lil Tjay featuring Lil Durk is a narrative exploration of life in the streets, the struggle for survival, and the realities of growing up in a harsh environment. It’s all about survival, resilience and the toll such an existence takes on an individual’s psyche.
The chorus, which is repeated multiple times throughout the song, reveals a sense of emotional numbness, a chilling indifference to violence (“Bodies drop all the time, I don’t feel nothing”). It’s clear that life in the streets has left a mark on Lil Tjay, even leading him to contemplate retribution (“Swear to God, y’all gon’ make me go kill something”).
He talks about his crew showing no mercy and maintains a constant state of readiness and vigilance knowing that he’s being watched and could be targeted at any time.
Lil Tjay shares his personal struggles too – the stresses of his lifestyle leading him to drug use (‘I was down off the drugs, I’m exuded’ or in simpler terms, he’s exhausted from drug use), the time he spent in jail, and how it almost pushed him over the edge (‘I was locked in my cell ’bout to lose it’).
The verse ‘I can’t wait to get used to this lifestyle / I remember it could’ve been lights out’ showcases Lil Tjay’s eagerness to embrace and adapt to his new lifestyle, a one marked by prominence and poverty to opulence and bling. It’s a stark reminder of how his past could have led him down a very different path – possibly even death (‘lights out’ is often used as slang for death).
Next, Lil Durk’s verse brings more layers to this narrative of street life. Durk shares his personal pain, highlighting the heartache of losing family (‘Losing my cousin, and that shit got me two-faced’), lamenting the unreliability of his father, and acknowledging the violence and danger inherent to his environment.
The line ‘Streets for real, I’m ’bout to depend on my choppa’ shows us that for Durk, the most reliable ‘person’ in his life is his firearm- a sad testament to the life he’s been living.
In the verse ‘My life changed fast, my homie turned into a rat’, Durk shed light on a recurring theme in hip-hop – betrayal. He confesses that his life has changed rapidly and unexpectedly; a close friend betrayed him, presumably snitching to law enforcement (hence the term ‘rat’).
Overall, “Brothers” is a deep dive into the raw and gritty streets life, told through the eyes of Lil Tjay and Lil Durk. The lyrics reveal a harsh reality filled with loss, violence, betrayal, and substance abuse. It’s a tribute to survival, resilience, and the unyielding hope for a better life amidst chaos.
