Chicago rapper Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, is currently facing severe legal battles after being charged with a murder-for-hire conspiracy against rap rival Quando Rondo. According to a Chicago Sun-Times report, Banks was initially indicted on Oct. 24 and has since received additional charges in a superseding indictment filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Notably, prosecutors have used lyrics from Lil Durk’s songs to suggest he sought to "commercialize" the shooting that targeted Bowman but resulted in the death of Saviay'a Robinson, Bowman's cousin.

Prosecutors unveiled new charges against the rapper, including a claim that Banks had openly rapped about his intent to take revenge in a song post the attempt on Quando Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman. "Told me they got an addy, go," Banks rapped in a track prosecutors are referring to. The song is linked to a news clip where Bowman is heard screaming after discovering his cousin’s body. "Look on the news and see your son/You screamin’, “No, no”,’" the lyrics continue to detail, as reported by the Billboard. Critics have long debated the use of rap lyrics in court, arguing that it could unfairly influence juries and infringe upon free speech.

The indictment alleges that Banks' record label, Only the Family, functioned as more than a music group – prosecutors describe it as a violent criminal organization that would commit "murder and assault at the direction of defendant Banks." The rapper has yet to publicly respond to the new charges, and attempts to get comments from his attorney have so far returned nothing, as per Billboard. Durk remains held without bail and faces the potential of life in prison if convicted on all new counts.

Alongside Banks, several others are implicated in the alleged conspiracy, including Kavon “Cuz” or “Vonnie” Grant, Deandre “DeDe” Wilson, Keith “Flacka” Jones, David “Browneyez” Lindsey, and Asa “Boogie” Houston. The collective there was charged in what prosecutors say was a meticulously planned attack to track and attempt to kill Bowman, however fatally injuring Robinson instead. These indictments residually hark back to a cycle of retaliatory violence that stemmed from the shooting of King Von, a Chicago rapper and Durk’s protégé, in November 2020. Despite the gravity of the case, Banks was not directly implicated in the incidents leading up to the 2020 shooting, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.