Joyner Lucas’ ADHD: NOT GOOD

Huuuuuh, this new Joyner Lucas record, it’s NOT GOOD.

Joyner Lucas is a Massachusetts lyricist, emcee, one who I have been keeping tabs on and off of for a while now. Really since he’s been making noise off of his 508-507-2209 mixtape back in 2017. Around that, he began dropping a lot of tracks, singles, remixes of more popular songs and artists, where he would show that he's a bit of a lyrical miracle, he’s got some bars, he’s got some word play, he’s kind of clever, a bit of an aggressive and fast flow. Even though rappers that tend to run in that direction grow very tiresome for me as of latе, I was thinking that maybe this guy has some potential, maybе there is something coming from him down the pipe that is going to be worthwhile, maybe he’s just taking his time to evolve and develop into something a bit more thought-provoking, possibly.

For example, that super viral “I’m Not Racist” track that he dropped in 2017, while that did not land, message wise, with everybody, I did think it was a pretty bold and at least, an admirable attempt at creating a conversation around the current day racial divides in America. I guess part of me thought that Joyner was artistically, still a work in progress, even though, now that I look back, he’s been dropping stuff since 2011. I suppose I just wasn’t that acclimated to Joyner’s work yet, and maybe if I had been with his earlier mixtapes like “Along Came Joyner” or even “Backwards”, maybe I would have realized that he doesn’t really have that much working beyond the surface for him. I did begin to get that sense as I heard single after single after single, actually like 9 singles from this record, so many I didn’t even hear them all before the release of this album, but still, dude dropped 9 singles from his record before the album was actually out, and a good chunk of the record beyond that is skits. So a majority of this album, essentially fans are already hearing, before it’s out. So when this thing did eventually drop I was just so not excited for it at all, and now that I hear it all together in one bunch, it’s like, even worse than I originally thought.

To the point where the single “ISIS” featuring Logic, which originally, I thought, was just so-so, kind of underwhelming, is actually fireworks, and one of the best songs here. Really an oasis in the track list.

In Joyner’s defense, the record doesn’t kick off too badly… If you completely ignore the cringy skit where you have a kid interacting with a doctor, showing him, like a Rorschach test, and as the kid begins to see disturbing things in the images, the doctor’s like “What are you, a fucking retard? You're fucking stupid?” Which, like, isn’t this album about your mental health, your ADHD, like what does this have to do with you having ADHD? Having an abusive therapist, who later on the album offers him cocaine for some weird reason. I mean maybe that’s something that, to Joyner, happened, I don't know, but all I know is, again, it doesn’t really play into the theme of the title of the album.

Still, following this intro skit, we have an intro song with “I Lied” where Joyner wastes tons of space saying “I let the money change me, I lied”. He’s essentially going over all the ways things have been altered in his life, since blowing up, musically speaking. And while, I do like his aggressive delivery and energy level on this track, something about him trying to play the “Sinister, sort of demented, I’m crazy” card isn’t really landing for me. But honestly what I wish I was actually listening to was some flawed concept record about Joyner’s emotional or mental pain, anguish, something. Instead, what we get past this point is a series of incredibly derivative rip-offs, where Joyner doesn’t really bring much to the table. Not any strong hooks, not any great vocal performances, weak production. Very little originality or personality too. I don’t know what it is about his vocals on “The War” that causes him to change up over a buttery, I guess, lowkey, sensual instrumental, but Joyner on this track featuring Young Thug who really does underplay his feature here sounds exactly like a poor man’s Ty Dolla $ign. He just sounds like Ty Dolla $ign, but worse. And what’s funny is, this isn’t even the only point on the record where he sounds like Ty. We then get a very annoying skit from Chris Tucker, surprisingly, on here, though to his credit, he does sound more genuine in his recording than Kevin Hart does later on the record, both of whom are essentially just like, getting at Joyner for, not being dependable, or just not getting his album out. But what’s worse than, really, both of these tracks is the song “I Love” which has a garbage hook. “I luh luh, low low low” You, you wrote this? This is a thing that you wrote? Painfully boring, painfully basic, like just, ugh, bland beat. Joyner’s bars are barely even worth listening to. There's massive amounts of space in between each bar, he’s not even really giving a good performance either. It’s just so middle-of-the-road. While simultaneously trying to sound deep and dramatic, which it fails at horrendously.

The following track “Devil’s Work” is another blatant rip-off. He. Sounds. Like. Meek. Mill. On. This song. From the flow to the inflection, even down to the production choice, with the dramatic guitars in the background. It just kind of sounds like one of those introspective Meek tracks, although Joyner gives us some supremely whack bars, like “I need you to give us back Martin Luther, take Martin Shkreli”, “Give us back Malcolm, take R. Kelly”. Though later in the track he’s talking about how we need M.J back, I’m wondering if this was recorded pre-Leaving Neverland. And if it wasn’t, is he just playing accusation a-la-carte? But regardless of how terrible the bars are, it’s just so distracting how much it sounds like Meek. Wasn’t this guy bitching about how Logic was copying him, like, years ago, and now he just can’t stop copying everyone else?

The song “Lotto” isn’t one of the most derivative songs on here, but it is one of the most confusing, as what is he getting at on this track? What is he rapping about? Is he rapping about having money or what he would do if he had more money? “Taking kids lining them up and getting them all sober” Is he just wanting or wishing that he could force people into rehab? Also the counting in Spanish refrain combined with all the silly ass adlibs all over this track just make it annoying as hell. There’s just so much space on this track and so many others, that Joyner wastes on, like, bad hooks, bad repetitions, shouting, or “buh, buh, buh, buh” in the background of the song that doesn’t really add anything to the track. Which is something generally that I’m generally not all that much against, if you can actually do it or execute it in a way where it really brings an energy to the song, but in Joyner’s case, it just sounds really goofy.

The song “Gold Mine” to my ears, was another Ty Dolla $ign ripoff, although there was a bar that stuck out to me on this track. “Go against the grain then you gotta be brave, She doesn’t like me then she gotta be gay”..... We’re still doing this? We are still doing bars like this in 2020? I mean, look, if not liking Joyner Lucas makes you gay, call me gay. Not even clever, funny, and just embarrassing at this point, and honestly, this isn’t even the only point on the record where Joyner drops a bar that shows that his gender or sexual politics are kind of fucked. We then get the track “Finally” featuring Chris Brown, that not only has a hook that interpolates CeCe Peniston’s “Finally”, which is an amazing song but the way they work it into this track is horrible and essentially ruins it. What’s even more distracting than that though on the track, is just how much Joyner sounds like Drake on this song, like, his bars and his flows are just loaded with so many Drake-isms and Drake-type inflections, again, like why is the record so friggin derivative?

“10 Bands” has a shockingly bad Timbaland beat, I mean some of the synths are kind of cool, but the groove of the track is pretty weak, and I think the hi-hats are mixed way too goddamn high to the point where they actually kind of take up space where I think Joyner’s voice should be. One more thing I want to point out about this track though and many others on this record is that it’s boring to listen to because Joyner will go bar after bar after bar after bar of having not said anything witty, smart, no double entendres. Nothing really in the way of a pen game.

“You don't really know what you up against (yeah), Boy, you know I always got the upper hand, You ain't never been through the struggle, man (boop), Home-made grits in the oven pan (uh), You don't run shit, you don't wanna dance (no), Two shots, make 'em do the runnin' man (uh), And they say, "Love is a drug" (uh-huh), Man, I swear I'll never take drugs again, I traded my bike for a hoopty (hoopty), Traded my hoopty for a Honda (Honda), Traded my Honda for a Panther (yeah), I just got a crib in Wakanda (woo), I never been into the drama (drama), Never been a fan of designer (uh), All I really got is one wish (what's that?), A one night stand with Madonna (woo)”

The closest thing to a word twist there was when he said he traded his Honda for a Panther, and then he related that to the Wakanda thing, the Black Panther, really that was it. And this isn’t even a unique situation on this record where again, he’ll just go on and on and on and on, and like, the rhymes, the meaning, the substance, like there’s no depth, there’s no other layer. It’s really odd that Joyner prides himself on rapping so clearly and so quickly on some tracks too when it’s really apparent that he just has so little to say. The intro portion of the song “Revenge” I feel like is what happens when you listen to XXXTENTACION once. As Joyner is trying to do a bit of an emo-rap thing here. I mean his flow does smooth out and get a little bit harder as the beat kicks in. But by then, the song and this album, in general, are just too boring for words anyway.

Following that, the title track of the record is really the cringy emo-rap anthem of the record with Joyner whiningly singing his heart out on a very terrible hook. Laughably bad, like it’s a track that you would do if you were trying to, I guess, parody Juice WRLD or something. Things get even worse on the track “Still Can’t Love” which features easily one of the worst instrumentals on the entire record, also very obnoxious King OSF vocal lines. Fabolous is in the mix there too, but I mean, his presence on the track doesn't really save it. I guess I can kind of give points to the track “Will” for attempting to be a thoughtful banger about idolizing people, looking up to your heroes, having good role models in your life I guess, but still, the Will Smith references are really heavy-handed. The closing track at least has a decent beat with some chopped-up soul ala Kanye, Madlib, maybe even a bit of MF DOOM with a lo-fi twist.

But there is a series of confusing bars on this track too where Joyner is talking about how he, at any point, can call up J, get a hold of Puff, tell Drake to send the jet out. For what reason, I don’t know. Does Drake want to hear you copy him? Do your best Drake impression? I don’t get it. When everything is said and done, I’m left here wondering, does Joyner Lucas have an original idea in his head? Because if he does, none of that really came out in this record. I don’t know why, he seems to have had some pretty interesting, conceptual tracks in the past. Maybe not perfect, maybe not the best you've ever heard, but certainly interesting, chalked full of potential. I can’t really say I heard anything on this record that had any potential to my ears and I don’t know why Joyner is sounding more derivative than he ever has before on a majority of these tracks.

So if we’re going to have a Joyner record in the future that’s actually good, we need more originality, we need better production, we need better hooks, we need pen game. Please for the love of god, write something that actually makes me want to rewind the track, and re-listen to what you said, because there are so many layers to it. Instead of just dropping a corny fucking movie reference after ten bars of almost nothing.

Yeah, this Joyner Lucas record, it’s NOT GOOD.