Though his pre-fame come-up might have been difficult at times, Joyner Lucas can officially say he’s made it in the rap game. Not only has he finally dropped off his anticipated debut album ADHD at long last, he’s also earned the respect of veterans like Eminem, Royce Da 5’9″, Chris Brown, Will Smith, and more. Suffice it to say, Joyner is doing pretty well for himself, to the point where he can pay it forward for his loved ones.

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And that’s exactly what he did on his father’s birthday. Taking to Instagram to showcase some of the kingly gifts, Joyner revealed that he recently copped his dad a Mercedes Benz and a diamond-encrusted Rolex — not only that, but he also shared a throwback picture of himself and his dad in simpler times, with Joyner Sr. holding it down with bottle in hand. 

At this point, it’s become a rite of passage for rappers to bless their parents with lavish gifts, gestures that often lead to some genuinely wholesome moments. We can only hope Joyner and his dad enjoyed a drink together like old time’s sake, but only after taking the new car for a lengthy spin. Congratulations to the Lucas boys.  

It's not every day that we get to hear Will Smith get in his rap bag. We all know that the 51-year-old actor can spit but, at this stage in his career, he's just laying low and reaping in the benefits of being a literal living legend. 

The Fresh Prince was so excited to hear Joyner Lucas rap about him on "Will" from his new album ADHD that the two seemingly hooked up secretly to work on a remix. The re-mastered version of the track has officially been released and people are very satisfied with the end result.

It had been reported that Joyner Lucas and Will Smith had met up sometime last month for a meeting of the minds. During their conversation, they must have made a pit-stop in the studio because the new remix of "Will" is here and it's fire.

Fans of the actor and his rapper collaborator are instantly pleased with how this turned out.

"Will Smith’s performance on this Joyner Lucas remix is [fire]," wrote one fan. "Breath control, cadence, flow are all A1."

To be completely honest, Will Smith went harder than a number of new-generation rappers, proving that a middle-aged man can still destroy some of these young cats if it comes down to that.

Check out the new remix of Joyner Lucas' "Will," featuring Will Smith, below.

Joyner Lucas and his manager Dhruv Joshi spoke with HipHopDX about their app Tully, how it came to be, and their recent key investment from Sony Music Entertainment.

Image Via HNHH

“Artists need to have control over their work,” Lucas says. “We sweat and bleed for this stuff, and it means everything to us. I built Tully to make it possible for me to have that control, know where all my stuff is and never have to rely on anyone to tell what’s mine and who owns what or how.”

Lucas and Joshi created the app in 2015. 

“As a manager, I have to juggle a lot of relationships for every song that Joyner creates,” Joshi notes. “You have to get clearances and split sheets from lawyers, producers, collaborators, everyone. You have to make sure that you have the rights for beats and samples, and you have to do that all while making sure that Joyner has what he needs to make it happen.”

He adds, “I had never found a way of doing this that didn’t end up costing a lot of time, a lot of money, and not be easy to track. It could get really hard to get a song to the finish line so, when we designed Tully to give me the controls I need to get it done and keep Joyner in the loop. It’s a game-changer for the industry.”

Later this year, Tully will release its Artist Management Platform, which will expand on the premise of the app and help manage artists’ workflow. You can learn more about the app on Tully’s website.

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Every so often, the temptation to indulge in petty revenge comes a-knocking. The wiser course of action is to simply ignore those dark urges all together, satisfying though it may be to succumb. Yet Joyner Lucas opted to throw caution to the wind and lay the foundation to his empire upon the very name of a former foe. 

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Following news that Joyner's "Tully" app recently secured funding from Sony Music, the rapper took to Instagram to reflect on his latest milestone. "As the co-founder of @tullyapp I am proud to announce my partnership with @sonymusic," he writes. "I been building this app for years with my manager @anonymousinnovator and I knew it was going to revolutionize the music game and change everything."

Yet this house was not entirely built on wholesome ground. Joyner would soon go to reveal the Tully name initially came from a former substitute teacher, one Robert Tully, who became somewhat of a nemesis. "The irony of this whole situation is where the name “Tully” came from," reflects Joyner, in a Twitter post that may very well find itself deleted should the namesake come a-knocking. "I had a substitute school teacher named “Robert Tully” who had it out for me & literally failed me every semester he was teaching. Lol because I’m petty I decided to name my app “Tully." Hi Robert." 

Is there a moral of this particular story? If so, can it be anything other than pettiness pays? 

Though some might warn to never meet your idols, others would welcome the prospect of such connections. Luckily, Joyner Lucas counts himself among the latter camp, having recently engaged in a face-to-face conversation with his personal hero Will Smith. The meeting of the minds transpired on Smith’s ongoing Snapchat series Will From Home, which finds the legendary and multi-talented rapper slash actor enjoying the subtle pleasures of home life — something with which we’ve all become well acquainted of late.

In the latest episode of Will From Home, Smith took a moment to connect with Joyner Lucas, to whom he previously reached out following the release of ADHD single “Will.” At the time, Will expressed a desire to meet face-to-face, and so began an intergenerational bromance fueled by mutual respect. Now, Joyner has officially crossed another item of the bucket list, having recently linked up with Will and Jaden Smith to watch the “Will” video and have a meeting of the minds. 

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“You’ve always been my idol,” gushes Joyner. “For me, I feel like you’ve done everything the right way and I really look up to that.” Ever the loyal son, Jaden chimed in with a co-sign of Joyner’s assessment, noting that his dad “did go from first making music in Philly, winning the first-ever rap Grammy, and then making that transition from mainly music into film.” Smith couldn’t resist the set-up, coming through with some peak dad humor in the clutch: “Then, Jaden, after all of that, I made you!”

Should you be interested in catching Joyner and Smith’s face-to-face conversation, you can check that out exclusively on Snapchat, the official source for all things Will From Home.

After undergoing what might have been the most extensive rollout in hip-hop history, Joyner Lucas has finally unleashed his full ADHD album upon the masses. And while its staggered two-year plus release may have ultimately hampered the final first-week numbers, Joyner’s fans still came out in droves to support the rapper’s official studio debut. So much so that Joyner tallied up an impressive 30,000 units, enough to propel him to the tenth spot on the Billboard 200 charts. 

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“I don’t focus on charts and reviews, however I appreciate all my fans all over the world!” he captions, reflecting on the success of his album. “I Made @itunes #1 rap album in the world and @billboard charts top #10 album in the world across all genres. Also noticed I was the only independent artist on the list. To all the indie artist that are constantly pushing through the struggle to one day make it, just know it’s possible. As an artist and the co-founder of @tullyapp I plan on leading by example. #ADHD out now!”

It’s certainly a good look for Joyner, who has proven himself to be at once a creative visionary and a respectable commercial force to be reckoned with — all things considered. And while he doesn’t focus on reviews, perhaps he oughta consider checking out our own song-by-song breakdown of ADHD right here, should he find himself so inclined. Congratulations to Joyner Lucas. Keep fighting the good fight and leading by example. 

For the second consecutive week, The Weeknd has been crowned atop the Billboard 200. 

The Toronto native recently released his new album After Hours, which opens the latest chapter in Abel Tesfaye’s creative career. With a highly-stylized theme and an overall aesthetic that kept us enthralled, the body of work has been successful for the XO Records honcho. With another 135,000 sales units counted in its second week out, After Hours was the most-consumed musical project of the week, clocking in ahead of the debuts.

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As reported by Hits Daily Double, 5 Seconds Of Summer and Lil Uzi Vert close out the top three spots, with Dua Lipa and Pearl Jam following closely behind. At the sixth position is PARTYNEXTDOOR, whose new project PARTYMOBILE sold approximately 52,000 equivalent album units. With features from Drake and Rihanna, would you consider that a win for the OVO Sound artist?

Lil Baby and Bad Bunny keep up their solid numbers before Joyner Lucas arrives at the ninth tally with around 38,000 sales on ADHD. After so much hype and so many delays, is that a good number for the lyricist?

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Some of the perpetual chart darlings, like Roddy Ricch and Post Malone, appear just after Joyner Lucas. 

What was your favorite new release of the week? Let us know in the comments.

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Despite the global state of affairs being rather alarming, Joyner Lucas has taken it upon himself to keep the levity up with a self-deprecating Instagram post. In the process, he may very well have sparked an inadvertent challenge of sorts, the “roast-me” challenge if you will. Sharing a picture from an undetermined period of time and inviting fans to have a laugh at his expense, Joyner made sure to contrast the awkward throwback with one of his noticeably more self-assured current day look. 

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“3…. 2….1….. roast me,” invites Joyner, alongside a picture of what can only be described as Sisqo’s cousin, complete with a halfway-finished goatee and a piercing gaze of passive-aggressiveness. In all fairness, it’s unclear as to when the image was taken, and this look may have been all the rage back when he first started rocking it. Yet given the sudden willingness to stage an impromptu roast at his expense, perhaps Joyner was simply digging through his Facebook Memories and found himself aghast at his once cherished former profile picture. 

True, this isn’t exactly what you’d call breaking news. Yet sometimes we need a little bit of dry amusement to keep ourselves sane. Either way, you’ve gotta respect Joyner’s willingness to put himself in the crosshairs like that, because you already know his followers are coming with the jokes. Check out our official review of Joyner Lucas’ ADHD right here. 

It’s impossible to discuss Joyner Lucas’ studio debut ADHD without mentioning the elephant in the room. The infamous rollout. A rollout that has been ongoing since October 2018 when “I Love” first landed. And while Joyner kept a steady influx of new songs in the interim, it became clear that the conceptual nature of his staggered release was running the risk of derailing ADHD’s cohesion. Given the title and thematic subject matter, it could be argued that the choice held artistic merit. Be that as it may, one might counter that a concept should only be pushed so far.

Now that the album has arrived in full, dwelling on the rollout feels like a moot point. Years down the line people will have forgotten all about it, left to contend with the music as presented. Whether or not Joyner wanted listeners to enjoy his album as a linear body of work is difficult to discern, a commentary that in itself incites an interesting discussion on authorial intent. Perhaps that’s a topic best saved for another day.

It was a choice and a brave one to commit to. In honor of Joyner’s piecemeal build-an-album approach, perhaps it’s time to try a similar approach in this review. Breaking things down on a song by song basis.

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Given the introductory skit “Screening Process,” a disturbing tone-setter evocative of Eminem’s “Dr. West,” it feels as if Joyner did attempt to map out a voyage. Themes of ADHD and mental health are well established in what feels like an origin story. In keeping with Joyner’s cinematic flair, the nightmarish qualities are rendered effectively through a creepy script and committed voice acting. A promising start.

In keeping with the “origin story” narrative, “I Lied” certainly signals the darkened state of Joyner’s morality meter. Celebrations of duplicity are rendered triumphantly over an eerie instrumental, a curious juxtaposition against Lucas’ flex-laden bars. An antihero’s anthem. As the official “intro” of the project, “I Lied” serves to immediately capture attention, the perfect marriage of strong production, effortless technical prowess, and thematic integrity. 

“Isis” feels like foot placed firmly on neck. Yet another up-tempo instrumental continues the album’s momentum as both Joyner and Logic seem to engage in an unspoken competition of showmanship. An anthem fueled by competitive spirit between two former foes–that and a harpsichord–Joyner’s clever touch for pacing shines thanks to these back-to-back bangers.

On paper, a Young Thug and Joyner Lucas feels bizarre. “The War” detes from its predecessors with a sharp left turn into new stylistic territory. It’s a risk that pays off thanks to some soothing guitar-driven production, the likes of which has become commonplace in today’s landscape. Joyner’s versatility becomes evident for the first time so far, his melodies well-balanced with Thug’s lush cadence.

Words from “Chris” Tucker speak volumes. What a co-sign. “Smoke a little weed, get your mind right,” advises the Rush Hour star. “You been, you been milkin’ the fuck out that album cover, man, way too long. So I hope this music’s good because if it’s not, I’ma be highly upset.” True.

Track six, “I Love,” is the song that started the journey in the first place. A pivot from Joyner’s more conceptual fare, on the surface the song feels like a typical braggadocious cut by insert rapper here. Luckily Joyner is talented enough to get by on the strength of his charisma, his prioritization of lyricism boding well in his favor. Joyner’s crossover appeal might be subtle, given some of his prior (admittedly heavier) material proved slightly alienating, but his ear for contemporary production always helped him fit in.

Speaking of Joyner’s heavier tracks, “Devil’s Work” is a callback to the likes of “I’m Not Racist” and “Frozen,” designed to evoke emotional responses. Whether songs of this nature resonate is a matter of personal preference. Given that we’re already seven songs deep and this is the first of its kind it does feel like a welcome detion from the banger-heavy onslaught. Lucas’ message hits all the harder thanks to some unapologetic intensity. It’s impactful and one could likely write an entire essay about this track alone. I suppose that speaks to the depth of his pen game, brought to life by a willingness to bleed emotion into a performance.

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“It’s my birthday I’m bout to get lit-lit,” warns Joyner, on the opening lines of “Lotto.” It didn’t take long before he got back on his BS, hitting cruise control for the first time. Lyrically, Joyner falls short of his typical bar and finds himself –not quite lost–but disoriented in the sauce. Luckily, ISM and Mally Mall keep him blessed with an infectious orchestral bop, one that requires little effort on Joyner’s part to keep things rolling.

“Lotto” isn’t enough to sate a “Kevin” Hart scorned, who does his best Fofty impression on his titular skit. “You think ’cause I’m five foot two I can’t box?” he warns. “I’m 5’4″, I’ll whoop your ass, swear to God. Get your ass whipped by a munchkin.” Two for two with the comedian co-signs.

Circling back to the melodic sensibilities of “The War,” Joyner Lucas channels the dulcet tones of Ty Dolla $ign on the delicate “Gold Mine.” Though understated, the track’s strengths are numerous thanks to a confident performance from Joyner, who rides the instrumental with a malleable flow. He’s having fun on this one and we’re all the better for it. The same can’t be said as confidently on the Chris Brown-assisted “Finally,” however, which finds the “Stranger Things” duet aligning for the most unconventional track thus far. Though both parties are too talented to fall flat on their faces, the synth-heavy track feels like an outlier, a leftover from the long-lost Angels & Demons project included for the sake of posterity.

“10 Bands” was released back in July of 2019, riding the high of a post-ScripturesTimbaland’s creative momentum. Like its predecessor, the track feels a little out of place, rocketing along on the strength of nostalgia. It works, given that Joyner is clearly thrilled to be connecting with a hip-hop legend, but an interesting conundrum is beginning to unfold. On one hand, the album’s concept gives it carte blanche to venture across the stylistic spectrum however Joyner sees fit. On the other, its lack of a greater thematic throughline leads to an influx in aimless, if still aurally enjoyable, tracks. Sometimes it feels as if he’s simply showing off, which can grow tiresome in the context of a greater whole.

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There’s a reason many will likely name “Revenge” to be the album’s crowning achievement. For the first time, all of Joyner’s most prominent strengths coalesce, from bars to flows to storytelling, leading to a song that’s appealing on a variety of different levels. It’s challenging for one, and seems loosely connected to the introductory tandem of “Screening Evaluation” and “I Lied,” a trifecta of darker ADHD cuts. It’s clear that he isn’t merely flexing over an instrumental, but rather weaving a message of great importance. An album highlight and the project’s arguable centerpiece.

It’s no coincidence that Joyner is back in the doctor’s office immediately after for some “Comprehensive Evaluation,” a powerful segue into the eponymous track. Unlike some of the album’s previous singles, “ADHD” thrives in the context of the album, imbuing it with the themes it clearly desires to explore. Though some might be put off by Joyner’s emo-tinged vocal delivery, it’s much more interesting to hear him write about the subjects that drive him. It’s strange — he’s skilled enough to out-rap the majority of flex-rappers, but when he spends too much time covering such ground it only winds up to his detriment. In a strangely thematic turn, Joyner is at his most authentic when he’s at his most alienating.

As the Fabolous & King OSF-assisted “Still Can’t Love” queues up, it feels as if a boat has been missed. “ADHD” would have been a fantastic closer, the natural climax in a strong three-track run. Yet Joyner chooses to meander with a strangely positioned melodic love song, albeit one that certainly has merit on its own. The same can be said of “Will,” which works as a wholesome homage to a legend, but ultimately feels aimless in its placement. A case can certainly be made for it being a victory lap, a heaping of crow for those that once looked down on him. Yet whatever merit it has in that regard is quickly overshadowed by the Smithiness of it all.

Luckily, “Broke & Stupid” course-corrects the thematic trajectory with a welcome dose of mature reflection. “I just bought a Lamborghini and painted the ceiling, I ain’t bragging, I’m just happy I made me a million,” he marvels, over soulful production evocative of the name he goes to namedrop. “ADHD, I was slow, now they label me brilliant, I’m proud of n***s like Hov, he made him a billion.”

As the closer rides out, Joyner’s ADHD lingers in a peculiar fashion. Never is it unlistenable or unenjoyable, thanks in large part to Joyner’s confidence and skillset. As a whole, however, it feels mired down by moments of inconsistency. Tracks that actually worked better as standalone singles, instead repurposed as roadblocks on this long-form journey. But in this age of instant gratification, it’s easy to forget that songs are more than capable of growing into their roles — let’s circle back in a year or so and see how ADHD holds up. In the meantime, it’s yours to enjoy however you see fit. 

Joyner Lucas is just a few days removed from the release of his new album ADHD, but he’s asking his fans to stop listening to it in favor of another artist.

It has been one year since the tragic passing of Nipsey Hussle, who was shot in front of his store in Los Angeles. The rapper was celebrated as one of the greatest wordsmiths of his generation, leading his community to achieve great things by the young age of thirty-three. If you have been listening intently to Joyner Lucas’ new project, he is kindly requesting for you to stop so that you can enjoy the artistry of the late Nipsey Hussle on “Nip Day.”

“If you listening to ADHD right now then please stop and go listen to @nipseyhussle all day,” wrote the New England emcee on Instagram. “Rest In Peace bro. Today I’m bumping #victorylap all day long.”

Joyner Lucas is not alone in celebrating the life and legacy of Nipsey Hussle today. Fans of the Los Angeles rapper have been extending their wishes to his family all day, sharing their favorite memories of him and re-posting their preferred songs. With first-week sales meaning a lot to most artists, this is a very gracious move from Joyner Lucas to direct attention away from his new album. 

Rest in power, Nip. We miss you.