‘Broadway Girls’ by Lil Durk & Morgan Wallen - Lyrics & Meaning

Country and rap haven't always been compatible bedfellows, despite a number of attempts to mesh and meld the two with one another over the years. However, from time to time, the two genres combine to produce an electrifying link-up, coupling the fire and swagger of rap with the smooth melodies and lyrical intricacy of country.

Arriving out of the blue in December 2021, Lil Durk and Morgan Wallen's ‘Broadway Girls’ is a prime example of this. Somewhat amusingly, the collaboration was sparked by Lil Durk's disappointment when his project, The Voice, was blocked from the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, by none other than Wallen's Dangerous.

This prompted Lil Durk to reach out to Morgan Wallen via Instagram, with both artists keen to team up for a track. When Wallen shared a snippet of the then-unreleased ‘Broadway Girls’, Durk immediately DM-ed him with a simple message: “I need that one”.

After ‘Broadway Girls’ dropped alongside a Nashville-themed music video, Lil Durk and Morgan Wallen hit the studio again to record ‘Stand By Me’, which appeared on Durk's 2023 album, Almost Healed. Shortly after, Durk took to his socials to underline his intentions to craft a full-length collaborative album with Wallen, which is yet to materialise. ‘Broadway Girls’ remains a fan-favourite, with Morgan Wallen using the beat-driven anthem to soundtrack his now-iconic pre-show walkouts. For the latter half of 2024, Wallen has been walking out to a mash-up of ‘Broadway Girls’ and his collaboration with Moneybagg Yo, ‘WHISKEY WHISKEY’.

Sometimes, when country artists venture into the rap world, they try and soften the edges of their ‘country-ness’. But on ‘Broadway Girls’, Morgan Wallen does what he does best and stays true to his sound, with the track pivoting around his snarling, defiant drawl. Durk's Auto-Tune-drenched vocals offer a sleeker, less rough-around-the-edges feel compared to Wallen's, with the two complementing each other as they trade verses about their misfortunes on Nashville's Broadway.

The seismic 808s and rattling hi-hats help to keep the energy high throughout, laying the foundation for a spine-tingling duet that set the bar for country-trap collaborations in the early 20s.

“2am at a Broadway bar

She's puttin' her number in my phone (Broadway girls alone)

Two Bud Lights deep, and she's sayin' things she don't mean

And you know”

Morgan Wallen begins by recalling how this particular encounter began on a drunken night on Nashville's famous Broadway strip, which is packed with artist bars. The story of ‘Broadway Girls’ largely takes place in Jason Aldean's establishment, with Wallen reminiscing on how the woman he met was tipsy from a couple of Bud Lights.

“I met her down at Aldean's

She said that she saw me walkin' in about a mile away

Bean just had to take her phone, and that just took her smile away

She said I'm too drunk and crazy, she don't like the way I dance

I said, "You don't have to join in", she said she'd take a chance

I've been kinda crazy ever since it went down

I get kinda lost and baby, this what I found

Girls like you just wanna take me around, around and around”

As Morgan Wallen parties the night away, the woman spots him and begins to make advances. Due to him being a well-known figure, his cousin, Andrew Greene - nicknamed ‘Bean’ - has to take her phone, presumably so she can't post any photos or videos of him. This makes her upset, with the woman then - amusingly - criticising Wallen's dancing. She decides to stick around, though, and despite the early frostiness of the encounter, it seems our narrator ends up falling pretty hard for her.

“Oh, there's two things that you're gonna find out (oh-oh)

They don't love you, and they only love you right now (right now)

If I was smarter, I'da stayed my ass at home

And leave them Broadway girls alone (leave 'em alone, leave 'em alone)

Them Broadway girls alone (leave 'em alone, leave 'em alone)

Leave 'em Broadway girls alone”

Their romance, however, is short-lived, leaving Morgan Wallen to lament how he always feels as though he's being taken advantage of. He bemoans how the women he tends to meet on Broadway don't have real feelings for him, even though it might seem that way at the time. There's juxtaposition here which will annoy any grammatical fanatics, as he states, “They don't love you and they only love you right now”. Although this strictly doesn't really make any sense, the implication is that they seem as though they love you in the moment, but in reality, they never did.

“They town just told me, "Don't trust 'em"

Broadway girls a trap (oh-oh)

They on me, they tryna finesse me

They see me with Morgan and know that I rap

My horse is Porsches, turnin' me on

I jump on a horse, she get on the back (yeah-yeah)

I went to the bar to go buy her a drink

She listen to P!nk, she told me she not into rap”

Lil Durk's verse outlines how he should've heeded warnings not to let himself get swept up in the allure of ‘Broadway Girls’, highlighting how they're trying to ‘finesse’ and trick him.

He explains how the fact that he's hanging out with Morgan Wallen doubles the amount of attention he and his group are receiving when in Nashville, before rattling through a Western-inspired flurry of lyrics, during which he describes his ‘horses’ - i.e. his horsepower - as being a Porsche. The woman he meets appears to belittle Lil Durk by sharing that she doesn't listen to rap, and instead prefers pop legend, P!nk.

“I can't run out of money

The trenches love me forever, they treat me like Ed in London

Take her to pool, then got a beer for nothin'

Tecovas boots, guitar, cigar, the bar

She ridin' a bull like cars, she usually don't cool with stars”

Lil Durk doubles down on the braggadocio of the preceding verse by stressing how ‘the trenches’ and the streets will always love him, treating him with the same reverence that Ed Sheeran receives in London. He namechecks an array of typically ‘country’ items, such as a pair of Tecovas cowboy boots and a classic guitar. He expresses his admiration for how adeptly the woman he's spending the evening with rides the mechanical bull - a staple of a good ol’ honky tonk bar.

“Oh-whoa, think I oughta settle down

And find me somethin' I can take back to my hometown, oh-whoa

But I told 'em that I'm savage, they just tryna tell me”

Here, Wallen and Durk reach the conclusion that they should settle down and enter into a long-term relationship, by finding a woman they'd be proud to take home to their families. They share the sentiments that they won't find what they're looking for in Music City, and that it's time they leave “them Broadway Girls alone” once and for all.

During an appearance on the Full Send Podcast, Lil Durk revealed this link-up arose after Morgan Wallen's 2021 album, Dangerous, blocked him from No. 1, “I had dropped my album, it was called The Voice. In my eyes, I'm like, ‘Ain't nobody else dropping, I'm going No. 1’. They called like, ‘You're No. 2’. [Morgan] dropped the same day I dropped, he was No. 1 for ten weeks. I DM-ed him like, ‘Man, we gotta do something’ and I was just telling him like, whatever we do, we just gotta make sure it's big. Then he had put a song on his page, I hit him like, ‘I need that one’”.

In a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Durk expanded on the endearing friendship the two have struck up, “We live in two totally different worlds. He’ll tell me, ‘Let’s go hunting, let’s go fishing’. He’s opened my mind to a different view of life. I’m telling him about clothes, all about the sauce. But he doesn’t care much about fashion”.

“2am at a Broadway bar

She's puttin' her number in my phone (Broadway girls alone)

Two Bud Lights deep, and she's sayin' things she don't mean

And you know

-

I met her down at Aldean's

She said that she saw me walkin' in about a mile away

Bean just had to take her phone, and that just took her smile away

She said I'm too drunk and crazy, she don't like the way I dance

I said, "You don't have to join in", she said she'd take a chance

I've been kinda crazy ever since it went down

I get kinda lost and baby, this what I found

Girls like you just wanna take me around, around and around

-

Oh, there's two things that you're gonna find out (oh-oh)

They don't love you, and they only love you right now (right now)

If I was smarter, I'da stayed my ass at home

And leave them Broadway girls alone (leave 'em alone, leave 'em alone)

Them Broadway girls alone (leave 'em alone, leave 'em alone)

Leave 'em Broadway girls alone

-

They town just told me, "Don't trust 'em"

Broadway girls a trap (oh-oh)

They on me, they tryna finesse me

They see me with Morgan and know that I rap

My horse is Porsches, turnin' me on

I jump on a horse, she get on the back (yeah-yeah)

I went to the bar to go buy her a drink

She listen to P!nk, she told me she not into rap

-

I can't run out of money

The trenches love me forever, they treat me like Ed in London

Take her to pool, then got a beer for nothin'

Tecovas boots, guitar, cigar, the bar

She ridin' a bull like cars, she usually don't cool with stars

-

Now, there's two things that you're gonna find out (oh-oh)

They don't love you, and they only love you right now (right now)

If I was smarter, I'da stayed my ass at home

And leave them Broadway girls alone (Broadway girls, Broadway girls)

Them Broadway girls alone (Broadway girls, Broadway girls)

Leave 'em Broadway girls alone

-

Oh-whoa, think I oughta settle down

And find me somethin' I can take back to my hometown, oh-whoa

But I told 'em that I'm savage, they just tryna tell me

-

There's two things that you're gonna find out (oh-oh)

They don't love you, and they only love you right now (right now)

If I was smarter, I'da stayed my ass at home

And leave them Broadway girls alone

-

Two things that you're gonna find out (oh-oh)

They don't love you, and they only love you right now (right now)

If I was smarter, I'da stayed my ass at home

And leave them Broadway girls alone (Broadway girls, Broadway girls)

Them Broadway girls alone (Broadway girls, Broadway girls)

Leave 'em Broadway girls alone'Lone, 'lone, Broadway girl

'Lone, 'lone, Broadway girls alone

'Lone, 'lone, Broadway girls

Broadway girls, Broadway girls alone”

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