Joyner Lucas – “ADHD 2” review

Here is the 3rd studio LP from Worcester, Massachusetts rapper & singer/songwriter Joyner Lucas. Somebody who first came to my attention in late 2016 with an incredible verse on “Sriracha” off of Tech N9ne’s 17th album The Storm, he exposure would increase the following year with the single “I’m Not Racist” along with a verse on “Lucky You” off of Eminem’s 10th album KAMIKAZƎ the year after that & his full-length debut ADHD was released during the COVID lockdowns to negative feedback from both critics & fans. Not Now, I’m Busy came out a year & a half ago to more mixed reception & basically half of ADHD 2 was already released as singles like literally every other rollout he’s had in the past.

After the “Family Therapy” skit, the first song “I Wish I Knew” opens with some pianos & hi-hats talking about inner growth featuring spoken word bits from WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg whereas “the “Fuck your top 5 ’cause I’m in the top 3 of your favorite top 5, let’s get this shit straight” on the lead single “One of Them” was laughable considering that Joyner’s discography comes nowhere close to Kendrick Lamar’s. Even if the horn-trap instrumental to be decent.

“Tear Me Down” featuring Ava Max made for a decent pop rap single tackling the theme of love hurting more than it heals & after the “Kevin” skit, “The Way That I Am” gives his flowers to Eminem much like he did with the Will Smith tribute “Will” on his debut. “Riot” is somewhat better talking about having money on his head & on the verge of getting arrested while “Hate Me” featuring T-Pain gives off a futuristic trap feeling to it coming with an 8 piece after others thought he was done.

After the “Denzel” skit, “White Noise” starts the 2nd half of ADHD 2 with a country trap fusion layering some auto-tune on his vocals feeling like his thoughts are getting too loud while “Butterfly Effect” carries the acoustics & hi-hats over to talk about going to another dimension if he could. “Anxiety Wins” featuring blackbear finds the pair getting on some emo rap shit until Ty$ probably saves my favorite feature on the album for “New Sofas” making up for typical Joyner bars like “To be Frank I don’t even do Oceans” leading into the “Therapy Checkup” skit.

Big Sean’s verse during “Active” was another highlight for me as he & Joyner talk about being outside when the lights are out while “Time is Money” featuring DaBaby & J Balvin could be the most tedious collaboration here with J Balvin’s verse at the end being my favorite regardless if it doesn’t do the rest of the song justice. “Listen to My Demo” is another favorite reflecting on trying to make it from 1999 to 2015 & the same can be said about “Momma” produced by N4 paying tribute to his mother.

Almost halfway through the current decade & ADHD is still widely considered to be amongst the worst hip hop albums of the entire decade, so my expectations weren’t all that high considering that & Not Now, I’m Busy being mediocre. And when he said “Nobody Cares” regarding his beef with Skepta, he wasn’t wrong considering that lame ass beef all drummed up in him dropping a sequel to his debut that’s slightly better than the original. Not trying to say he can’t rap because he can, he simply has a below average ear for production & the guests’ performances are equally tiring as his.

Score: 1.5/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Joyner Lucas – “Not Now, I’m Busy” review

Worcester, Massachusetts rapper & singer/songwriter Joyner Lucas back with his sophomore full-length LP nearly 4 years to the day of his debut ADHD. Somebody who first came to my attention in late 2016 with an incredible verse on “Sriracha” off of Tech N9ne’s 17th album The Storm, he exposure would increase the following year with the single “I’m Not Racist” along with a verse on “Lucky You” off of Eminem’s 10th album KAMIKAZƎ the year after that & ADHD was released during the COVID lockdowns to negative feedback from both critics & fans. Not Now, I’m Busy was said to be cancelled last summer & is releasing it now that spring’s approaching.

The cloudy trap intro “Put Me On” bites the “turned your bird into a ex, I feel like Elon” line from Freddie Gibbs’ verse on “Back to Me” off of ¥$’ debut album Vultures whereas the instrumental on “I’m Ill” sounds like some generic club shit looking to get in his zone. “Waiting on This” works in horns & hi-hats much like “Trophies” or “Laugh Now, Cry Later” by Drake telling y’all “The day that you bastards’ll play me will be thе same day me & Jennifer Lopez announce that we gon’ be havin’ a baby” just before “Broski” is a decent conscious hip hop/contemporary R&B crossover talking about a childhood friend of his.

“Fake Promises” advises to separate yourself from all the noise stripping the drums completely over an atmospheric backdrop while “When I Need Love” heavily samples “Who Can I Run To?” by Xscape to deliver a trite pop rap ballad. “Cut U Off” featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again gives off this blandly eerie trap vibe getting boastful with YoungBoy having the better performances of the 2 leading into “What’s That?” dropping cringey bars like “I gotta lift the weight, tell all my bench to press” or “It’s a wrap that’s word to Chipotle” over a decently dynamic trap beat.

Conway the Machine murders Joyner on his own shit with the boom bap/chipmunk soul crossover “Sticks & Stones”, but then “Best for Me” featuring Jelly Roll on the hook sends a profoundly touching message to someone in his life that he really cares about being caught up in drug addiction. “I Didn’t Go” featuring the late DMX & Symba finds the trio discussing getting rich being their only plan over a dreamy boom bap instrumental while “3 Little Pigs” talks about 3 cops & the beat here kinda sounds Daringer-influenced.

“24 Hours to Live” overdramatically explains what he would do if he only had a day left on Earth shifting gears back into trap territory mixing some pianos into the fold while “Still Alright” featuring Logic & Twista shoots for a dreamier approach sonically showcasing speedier flows. “17” ruins one of my favorite Mac Miller songs “Donald Trump” previously praying for times like this while “How Much Do You Love Me?” prior to the titular outro gets back in his annoying pop rap bag.

I really did see the potential in Joyner almost a decade ago when he first started getting more exposure, but waiting 4 years in-between every album & releasing half of it as singles building up to release day still isn’t quite the solution to rolling out a significant body of work. Much like ADHD, what we have from him is another disappointment. The features are ok, but the production feels flat & every some of the lyrics at times also.

Score: 2/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Joyner Lucas – “ADHD” review

This is the full-length debut from Worcester, Massachusetts rapper & singer/songwriter Joyner Lucas. A man who first came to my attention in late 2016 with an incredible verse on “Sriracha” off of Tech N9ne’s 17th album The Storm. His exposure would increase the following year with the single “I’m Not Racist” along with a verse on “Lucky You” off of Eminem’s 10th album KAMIKAZƎ the year after that. But after spending 2019 dropping singles, he’s now giving fans the main course with ADHD.

After the “Screening Evaluation” intro, we get into the first song “I Lied”. Where Joyner admits that money has changed him over a demented instrumental. The next track “ISIS” with Logic sees the 2 getting into a contest to see who‘s cornier while “The War” with Young Thug sees the 2 talking about hoes over an instrumental kin to Beautiful Thugger Girls.

After a cringey Chris Rock skit, the song “I Love” talks about his passion for hip hop over an airy trap beat & an annoying ass hook. The track “Devil’s Work” is probably the best off the entire album as he pays tribute to famous celebrities that’ve lost their lives over a psychedelic rock beat & while the song “Lotto” insipidly boasts over a bland beat.

After the Kevin Hart skit which isn’t any better than Chris Rock’s, the track “Gold Mine” finds Joyner doing a shockingly dead on impression of Gunna on the hook & the acoustic trap beat adds to that while the song “Finally” with Chris Brown is a gross & pillowy expression about freedom. The track “10 Bands” gets materialistic over the worst Timbaland beat I’ve ever heard while the track “Revenge” talks about getting back over a decently hypnotic trap beat.

After the “Comprehensive Evaluation” skit, the title track tries to hop on the emo rap bandwagon over some piano chords that later transitions into a generically cloudy beat while the song “Still Can’t Love” whines about being single alongside King OSF & Fabolous over an instrumental that could’ve landed on any Lil Uzi Vert project. The penultimate track “Will” is a redundant tribute to Will Smith as much as I & everyone else loves him over a flute & some punchy ass drums whereas the closer “Broke & Stupid” is a fake woke reiteration or a Jim Rohn speech over a very classy Weldon Irvine sample.

For waiting a little over 3 years, it’s really sad for me to see him squandering his potential like this. The man certainly has lyrical talent don’t get me wrong at all, but the topics he chose to touch base on really doesn’t resonate with me & it’s sound as a whole is so directionless.

Score: 1/5