<P> Durk Banks was born on October 19, 1992, in Chicago, Illinois . He was raised in Englewood, a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side . </P> <P> In 2011, Banks would start taking music seriously . After plans to sign with Chief Keef and French Montana's labels fell through, he considered rapping as "a full - time career" after the releases of his two singles, "Sneak Dissin"' and "I'ma Hitta", each of which received generally positive feedback . On October 19, 2012, Durk released his third mixtape, Life Ain't No Joke . As of September 22, 2015, the mixtape has been downloaded over 216,000 times on DatPiff . In December 2012, Durk released the track, called "L's Anthem", which was remixed, featuring French Montana, as a re-release . </P> <P> Due to the popularity of "L's Anthem" and its follow - up single, "Dis Ain't What U Want" in 2013, Durk accepted a joint venture deal with his collective Only the Family and Def Jam Recordings . </P> <P> After a small number of delays, Durk's fourth mixtape Signed to the Streets was released on October 14, 2013, exclusively on DatPiff . It features two guest appearances from former Glo Gang affiliate Lil Reese, along with production credits from Paris Bueller and Young Chop, among others . Eight music videos were released to promote the mixtape: "Bars Pt. 2", "Oh My God", "100 Rounds", "Dis Ain't What U Want", "Bang Bros", "Traumatized", "Hittaz" and "Times". Signed to the Streets would later be named the eighth best mixtape of 2013 by Rolling Stone . On October 22, 2013, in an interview with XXL, Lil Durk said he was working on his debut album under Def Jam . Also, Durk was named part of the 2014 XXL Freshmen Class . </P>

When did lil durk sign to def jam