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Joyner Lucas: 'ADHD'

Album expectations.

By Azaria BrownPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Joyner Lucas has been creating some buzz for his upcoming ADHD album, which doesn’t have a release date just yet. He announced the upcoming album in late 2018, since then we’ve seen the release of three singles “I Love,” “Devil’s Work” and “Isis.” Right off the bat, I wanna say that 9/10 I don’t really research albums before they drop. This is because I’m usually not interested in what the artist is trying to do with an album. I like to listen to it first and then look at what they say they were trying to do to see if they were successful. It's this idea of the realized intention. I only mention it because if Joyner did any interviews about any of the things I’m going to discuss, I wouldn’t have seen them. But anyway.

What I’m really hoping for is some good collaborations on this album. “Isis” (which I’ll discuss more closely in a minute) was a good way to preview what collaborations are to come. Also, on Genius, there’s a placeholder for a track called “ADHD” that features Eminem; it will probably have a “Lucky You” vibe to it. I personally think that Joyner does the best on tracks that have strong features, maybe because there’s about of friendly competition. On his own, I think Joyner has been really good with storytelling and lyricism, but also appealing to both old school hip hop heads and new school hip hop listeners. But he’s also known for having corny bars:

Now hurry up and get your juicy out the refrigeratorYou going to bed at eight o'clock and not a minute laterNo, I don't wanna hear itNo, let this be a lessonClose your mouth and go into your room like I suggestedI'm a get real Joe Jackson in a secondMatter of fact, give me your toys, I'm adding that to the collection

I really loved the way 508-507-2209 had a unifying theme and used the theme in each song. I’m assuming ADHD will do something similar, but I’m not sure how. Tracks like “Isis” and “Devil's Work” seem so different, I’m not sure how they relate in terms of the title. If I were to make up a theory I would probably say that he’s diagnosing America with ADHD for our inability to focus on more than one tragedy or big headline at a time. In Joyner’s tweet he said that “The kid with ‘ADHD’ did it,” which leads us to infer that this is why he named the album ADHD, but I don’t think this is the only reason the album was given this title. After all, it doesn’t link the tracks together due to any other reason than Joyner being the artist.

I’m wondering if the definition of ADHD at the beginning of “Isis” will reoccur like Joyner’ s voicemail on 508. It would be a good way to keep tracks united. In terms of “Isis,” I really think that Logic’s verse was really refreshing. His energy here is something that I feel like we haven't seen in awhile. Since there was this whole “whats beef?/what’s peace?” thing, can we get a track with Tory Lanez or am I asking for too much? I know they weren’t beefing, they were battling, but I still feel like it’s a stretch, which is why I’m asking for it. I think the whole ADHD thing would be really well done if he took us off guard with some of his features/subject matter. A feature from Eminem will be well-received, but not surprising. But the Logic feature was both and a Tory Lanez feature would probably be both as well.

The visuals are probably what I’m most excited for. With Joyner, the visuals are often just as important to the songs for the message he is conveying. Thus far, I’ve liked the visuals and the discussions they’re sparking. Whether I agree or disagree with him or others, I’m just glad that this discussions are happening at all.

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About the Creator

Azaria Brown

25. I'm a writer and illustrator. I like films, television, books, music, politics and being black.

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