Lil Durk is asking a federal judge to let him come home while he waits for his next trial, and he did not come empty handed. Jay-Z and J. Cole both wrote personal letters to the judge backing his release, and Durk’s own lawyers put basically everything he will ever earn from music on the table as the guarantee he will not run.
The bond package was filed Monday in front of U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, with a hearing set for November 4. It offers up Durk’s royalties and publishing from albums like “Almost Healed” and “Deep Thoughts,” his touring money, merch and branding income, and the rights to his own name and likeness. His mother’s home is in the package too, along with cash and property pledged by friends. Sony Music Entertainment, his parent label, told the court it is prepared to guarantee an appearance bond of up to $1,000,000.
“Release would allow Durk to support his family and continue the work in his community that I saw firsthand.”
Jay-Z, in his letter to the court
In his letter, Jay-Z pointed to Durk signing young artists from his own Chicago neighborhood and giving them a real path into the industry. J. Cole’s letter went back to their Grammy winning record “All My Life”: Cole said he first wanted a different kind of song, and Durk talked him into the hopeful one.
“He wanted to push a message of change and of peace and of growth and maturity.”
J. Cole, in his letter to the court
Durk has been locked up since late 2024. A jury acquitted him in September on the murder for hire charges, but he is still being held on a separate racketeering and firearms case that he has pleaded not guilty to, with trial now set for August 2027. He was denied bond once before after the court called him a flight risk, and prosecutors still oppose his release. Letters also came in from Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, and the mother of Saviay’a Robinson, the man killed in the 2022 shooting at the center of the first case, told the court her family does not object to his release.
If Durk violates the deal, the filing says he and his family would be left destitute indefinitely. The judge decides November 4.