Lucas received widespread exposure and critical acclaim after the release of his single "Ross Capicchioni" in 2015. In June 2017, he released his fourth mixtape, 508-507-2209, which was his first on a major label. On November 28, 2017, Lucas released his single "I'm Not Racist", which quickly went viral, gaining him further attention and praise. The video was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 61st Grammy Awards. Lucas was formerly signed to Atlantic Records, until he announced his departure from the label in December 2018.
Since 2016, Lucas has also become known for remixing popular hip hop songs like "Gucci Gang" by Lil Pump, "Bank Account" by 21 Savage, "DNA" by Kendrick Lamar and many others. In October 2018, he announced his debut studio album ADHD, which was released on March 27, 2020. He began rapping at the age of 10, and attended South High Community School in Worcester.
Gary Maurice Lucas, Jr. was born on August 17, 1988, in Worcester, Massachusetts to a black father and a white mother. He began rapping at the age of 10, and attended South High Community School in Worcester.
Joyner Lucas first started rapping under the name G-Storm, but by 2007 had changed his stage name to Future Joyner and started working with his cousin Cyrus tha Great, forming a group called Film Skool Rejekts. That year they released Workprint: The Greatest Mixtape of All Time. Lucas released his first solo mixtape, titled Listen to Me, in 2011.[citation needed] After rapper Future came to prominence, Lucas dropped the "Future" from his name and continued as Joyner Lucas. He released his first mixtape under this new moniker in 2013, titled LFO's (Low Frequency Oscillators). His next mixtape, Along Came Joyner, was released on April 5, 2015. This mixtape contained his critically acclaimed "Ross Capicchioni". Following the success of the song, Lucas was featured in the 2015 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher. Originally intended to appear in the online-only cypher, he was later promoted to rap as part of the live broadcast cyphers based on the strength of his initial performance.
Lucas signed to Atlantic Records on September 21, 2016. Lucas went on to release a project titled 508-507-2209 on June 16, 2017, with Atlantic Records. The mixtape charted at #7 on the Heatseekers Albums chart on Billboard and contained the singles "I'm Sorry", "Ultrasound", "Just Like You" and "Winter Blues". Ever since 2016, Lucas has also become known for remixing popular hip hop songs.
On November 28, 2017, Lucas released the single "I'm Not Racist" via his YouTube channel. The music video quickly went viral and gained critical acclaim. The controversial song is about race and society, and race relations from the perspectives of a white man and a black man. The video was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 61st Grammy Awards, but lost to Childish Gambino's "This Is America". Lucas and Chris Brown announced a collaborative project titled Angels & Demons on February 25, 2018, with the project's first single "Stranger Things" releasing the following day. On April 1, 2018, Lucas released the single "Frozen", a song focused on different forms of reckless driving. The second single from the Angels and Demons collaborative mixtape, "I Don't Die", was released on May 2.
On July 31, 2018, Lucas announced that he was forced to cancel appearances in the Australian and European legs of his I'm Kind of a Big Deal tour due to hoarseness and laryngitis. A month later, Lucas was featured on "Lucky You" from Eminem's tenth album, Kamikaze. The song debuted at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Lucas' first top 10 entry on the chart. On October 12, 2018, Lucas announced that he would be releasing his debut studio album entitled ADHD. He also announced a single from the album that would be released the following Wednesday. The song, entitled "I Love", was released as the lead single from ADHD, which was released on March 27, 2020. It was preceded by nine singles from October 2018 to March 2020, the time before release.
On August 17, 2020, Lucas announced the release date of his debut EP, Evolution. It was released on October 23, 2020. It was preceded by two singles, "Snitch" and "Fall Slowly" featuring Ashanti.
Lucas has cited several artists as influences in his music, but he cites Eminem as his biggest musical influence. He also revealed he was influenced by Will Smith in his song "Will", which he would release a remix of featuring Will Smith himself on May 15, 2020. He cites Jay-Z as one of his influences too.
Joyner Lucas shares a son named Joyner Messiah Lucas (born February 20, 2016) with Carmen Julissa Ayala, whom he had an off and on romantic relationship with. Lucas tells the story of his son's conception in his song "Forever" on his mixtape 508-507-2209. Joyner Messiah Lucas is loved and adored by his father and referenced in many of his songs. He has also made cameos in his father's music videos. Most recently he played Will Smith's son Jaden Smith in the video of "Will".
Lucas has revealed that the title of his album ADHD comes from the fact that he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. He explained that people surrounding him, including his own parents, made him feel like he was not normal and treated him differently as a result. Eventually, he would act out and get sent to an alternative school after expulsion.
Feuds
Logic
According to Lucas, when he was on Tech N9ne's tour bus, he heard some records from Tech's album The Storm. Lucas expressed interest on collaborating with Logic on the song "Sriracha" and felt that he could add to the display of fast-flow rapping, and Tech acquiesced. Logic was originally slated to be the only feature on "Sriracha", but when he spent over six months to deliver his verse, Lucas hopped on the track to offer his own. Joyner stated that when they got the record back, he could tell that Logic was not "too happy" about him being on the track once he heard it. On his remix of Future's "Mask Off", Joyner, unhappy by the work Logic turned in after taking nearly half a year to edit his verse, directly addressed the disappointing display. Both he and Tech N9ne were upset with Logic for not emulating the style of quick flow on the song.
After Logic's hit song "1-800-273-8255" peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, Joyner Lucas immediately took offense and argued that the track was named in order to bring direct competition to his project, 508-507-2209. In a later interview, he called Logic "corny" and in another incident, he said that he thinks that Logic "can rap" but feels like "he tries to prove that he's black too much for me." With both Logic's single and Lucas' mixtape dealing with the issue of mental health representation and resource allocation, Lucas was careful to not slam the track too hard.
When Logic dropped his song "Yuck" from his mixtape Bobby Tarantino II in March 2018, the veiled diss inside the song was quickly spotted by Lucas and his fans, despite Logic saying that there was no diss in the song. Seemingly nonplussed by the insult, Lucas dared Logic to call him out directly on Twitter. That same month, Joyner took aim at Logic's song "44 More" and his album Everybody on his remix of BlocBoy JB's "Look Alive".
In 2019, the two rappers ended their feud, which was revealed when Logic made a guest appearance on Joyner Lucas' song "ISIS", the third single from ADHD. Lucas kept the name of the collaborator a secret until he released the song.
Hopsin
In September 2018, when a fan asked Los Angeles rapper Hopsin on Twitter who would win in a rap battle between him and Joyner Lucas, Hopsin replied, "That's a dumb question that I'm sure you already know the answer to." Not long after, Lucas commented, "Hold up. @Hopsin wtf is that supposed to mean???" In his response, Hopsin stated that he would "b[r]eak his soul" and also dissed Logic in the comment. This dispute would prove to be short-lived, when in less than two days Hopsin shared a screenshot of a FaceTime call with Lucas, indicating that they finally made peace, but still wanted people to consider who would beat the other in a rap battle. While the majority favored Hopsin, Lucas was adamant without arguing.
Tory Lanez
Joyner Lucas' feud with Canadian recording artist Tory Lanez began over matters similar to his beef with Hopsin. On November 19, 2018, Lanez claimed that he was a better rapper than Joyner Lucas on an Instagram Live session. Incredulous, Lucas immediately responded by inviting Lanez to a battle rapping challenge and telling him to let the public decide who is better. The next day, Lanez dropped a freestyle over Eminem's "Lucky You", of which Lucas made a guest appearance on. In less than 24 hours, Joyner responded with his freestyle over "Litty" by Meek Mill featuring Tory Lanez, also targeting rapper Trippie Redd, who joined Tory's Instagram Live and slandered Joyner's name as well. Shortly after, Lanez retaliated with his own freestyle of "Litty", titled "Litty Again", taking shots at Joyner's collaboration with Eminem. Lucas' answer song was a freestyle of Kodak Black's "Zeze". On the track, he mentions Tory's being accused of plagiarism in 2016, when listeners noticed that the ending of Lanez's song "4am Flex" was similar to Kendrick Lamar's "The Art of Peer Pressure". Joyner also accuses him of copying rapper Don Q's flow on his 2017 Funkmaster Flex freestyle. On November 23, Tory posted on Instagram a video of him declaring victory in the feud and celebrating. Displeased, Lucas reposted the video with his own comment, with a reference to Lanez as a singer.
The end of this rivalry was made public on August 8, 2019, when Joyner Lucas and Tory Lanez collaborated on their remix of "Suge" by DaBaby.
The Grammy Awards are held annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Joyner has two Grammy nominations altogether; one for Best Music Video for “I’m Not Racist” and one for Best Rap Song for “Lucky You” by Eminem.
KEVIN
Joyner Lucas Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Heard the song "Lotto" you just dropped, and I'ma tell you right now, man, I'm not too impressed
I'll tell you why I'm not impressed, tell you why
'Cause you still owe me money from a year ago
When your bitch ass cryin' about your Lamborghini gettin' repossessed, until I came to the rescue
Had to be Captain Save A Hoe, so you can maintain your lil' bitch ass, fake ass lifestyle
Now, it's a year later, I still don't have my money and you're rapping about hittin' the lottery
Tell me, where the fuck do they do that shit at?
You think 'cause I'm 5"2' I can't box? I'm 5'4", I'll whoop your ass, swear to God
Picture your ass whooped by a munchkin
Let me tell you something, Joyner
I don't care how short I am, or whether I can get on a rollercoaster at DisneyWorld
If I was you, I'd get back to me immediately
'Cause if you don't, I'm gonna beat your ass with a Lil Uzi Vert album
I swear to God, ha, I swear to God
What are you, white?
What the fuck is this, slavery? Reparations?
Still chase you down
Give me my shit
In these lyrics from Joyner Lucas's song "Kevin," the singer, who goes by the name Kev, addresses Joyner Lucas about his recent song release, "Lotto." Kev starts off by expressing his lack of admiration for the song. He then brings up a personal matter from the past, claiming that Joyner owes him money from a year ago when he helped him out by paying off his repossessed Lamborghini. Kev is frustrated because he still hasn't been repaid, yet Joyner is rapping about hitting the lottery, which seems hypocritical to Kev. He questions where such behavior is acceptable and asserts that despite his height (5'4"), he is not to be underestimated and is willing to physically confront Joyner if necessary. Kev presents a humorous threat, suggesting that he will beat Joyner with a Lil Uzi Vert album if he doesn't address his debt promptly.
Interpreting these lyrics, we can observe themes of trust, betrayal, financial responsibility, and the frustration that comes with unfulfilled promises. It seems that Kev feels taken advantage of by Joyner, who he claims used him to maintain a fraudulent lifestyle. The lyrics also touch on themes of judgment based on physical appearance and the importance of reclaiming what is rightfully owed.
Line by Line Meaning
Listen, Joyner what's up? It's Kev
Hey Joyner, it's Kev. Can we talk?
Heard the song 'Lotto' you just dropped, and I'ma tell you right now, man, I'm not too impressed
I listened to your recent song 'Lotto' and honestly, I'm not impressed with it
I'll tell you why I'm not impressed, tell you why
Let me explain the reasons why I'm not impressed
'Cause you still owe me money from a year ago
You haven't paid me back the money you owe me since a year ago
When your bitch ass cryin' about your Lamborghini gettin' repossessed, until I came to the rescue
You were whining about your Lamborghini being repossessed, but I helped you out
Had to be Captain Save A Hoe, so you can maintain your lil' bitch ass, fake ass lifestyle
I had to play the role of a savior to help you maintain your fake and pathetic lifestyle
Now, it's a year later, I still don't have my money and you're rapping about hittin' the lottery
Now, a year has passed and I still haven't received my money, but you're rapping about winning the lottery
Tell me, where the fuck do they do that shit at?
Seriously, where the hell do people do such things?
I don't, I don't know
I genuinely don't have a clue
You think 'cause I'm 5"2' I can't box? I'm 5'4", I'll whoop your ass, swear to God
You assume just because I'm 5'2" tall, I can't fight? Well, I'm actually 5'4" and I'll beat you up, I promise
Picture your ass whooped by a munchkin
Imagine yourself getting beaten up by a shorter person
Let me tell you something, Joyner
Listen here, Joyner
I don't care how short I am, or whether I can get on a rollercoaster at DisneyWorld
I don't care about my height or whether I meet the height requirements for a DisneyWorld rollercoaster
If I was you, I'd get back to me immediately
If I were in your shoes, I would respond to me right away
'Cause if you don't, I'm gonna beat your ass with a Lil Uzi Vert album
If you ignore me, I'm going to physically harm you using a Lil Uzi Vert album
I swear to God, ha, I swear to God
I'm not kidding, I'm dead serious about this
What are you, white?
Are you some kind of ignorant white person?
What the fuck is this, slavery? Reparations?
What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of slavery or reparations?
Still chase you down
I will continue to pursue you
Give me my shit
Give me the money you owe me
Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Gary Lucas Jr.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind