Birth Name | Gary Maurice Lucas Jr. | |
Born | August 17, 1988 | |
Years Active | 2007 - Present | |
Label(s) | Twenty Nine, Dead Silence, Atlantic | |
Latest Album | Evolution | |
Website | joynerlucas.com |
Gary Maurice Lucas Jr. (born August 17, 1988) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, poet and actor from Worcester, Massachusetts.
He received widespread exposure and critical acclaim after the release of his single "Ross Capicchioni" in 2015. In 2017, he released his fourth mixtape, 508-507-2209, which was his first major label. He released his single "I'm Not Racist" on November 28, 2017, which quickly went viral, gaining him further attention and praise. He was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 61st Grammy Awards. He briefly signed to Atlantic Records, until he announced his departure from the label in December 2018.
He began rapping at the age of 10, and since 2016, he 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 March 27, 2020.
Early life[]
Joyner was born August 17, 1988 in Worcester, Massachusetts to a black father and a white mother. He began rapping at age 10, and attended South High Community High School.
Career[]
Joyner Lucas started out rapping under the name G-Storm, but by 2017, he changed his stage name to Future Joyner and started working with his cousin Cyrus tha Great, forming a group called Film Skool Rejeckts. That year, they released Workprint: The Greatest Mixtape of All Time. Lucas went on to release his first solo mixtape, titled Listen to Me in 2011. After rapper Future came to prominence, Lucas dropped the "Future" from his name and continued as Joyner Lucas. He dropped his first mixtape under the new moniker in 2013, titled LFO's (Low Frequency Oscillators). His next mixtape, Along Came Joyner, was released on April 5, 2015. The mixtape contained his critically acclaimed "Ross Cappichioni". 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.
He signed to Atlantic Records on September 21, 2016. He then went on to release 508-507-2209 on June 16, 2017, with Atlantic. The mixtape charted at #7 on the Heatseekers Albums chart on Billboard and contained the the singles "I'm Sorry", "Ultrasound", "Just Like You", and "Winter Blues". Ever since 2016, Lucas also became known for remixing popular Hip-Hop songs.
On November 28, 2017, Lucas released "I'm Not Racist" on his YouTube channel. The music video quickly went viral and gained critical acclaim. The controversial song about race and society, 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 Angels & Demons collaborative mixtape, "I Don't Want to 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, he 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, which was released on October 23, 2020. It was preceded by two singles, "Fall Slowly" featuring Ashanti and "Snitch".
Artistry[]
Lucas has cited several artist as influences in his music, but he cites Eminem as his biggest musical influence. He also revealed that 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.
More[]
For more information on Joyner Lucas' discography, see Music by Joyner Lucas.