24 | DECEMBER 24 - 30, 2021 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM
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Joyner Lucas pulls emperor card on hip-hop game in 2021 Liz Fay Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
One thing I’ve always appreciated about Joyner Lucas is his prevailing ability to be unapologetically over-thetop, a quality refl ected in his 2021 release. Lucas went on a rampage this past year, with the release of seven records in collaboration with hip-hop icons: J. Cole, Lil Baby, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil TJay and Lil Durk. Summing up the year with upward of 30 million listeners and nearly 500 million streams on Spotify, even before dropping “Rambo,” featuring Lil Durk, and his most recent single, “My Escape,” which was released Dec. 17. Streaming numbers like these certainly legitimize Lucas’ reign in the music industry — an idea the artist quite literally reps around his neck with his oftenworn emperor tarot card chain. While Lucas dished out a well-diversifi ed variety of themes over the course of the year, his main focus seems to revolve around marking his legacy, as noted in a slew of verses from “Duck Duck Goose,” “Rambo,” “My Escape” and “Ramen & OJ,” along with selecting “Legend,” from his 2020 “Evolution” album, as his encore performance this past September at Joyner Fest at the Palladium. Of the seven songs released throughout the year, my favorite is “Duck Duck Goose.” Ruthless and determined, Lucas sarcastically pours out his most authentic self, spitting “Don’t give me advice go read on Wikipedia, huh,” something I can vividly picture him saying to my face right before angrily speeding off on his four-wheeler, chanting “Duck duck goose I am the goose!” in continuation of his triumphant fi t, as seen in the video. When talking about legacy, “Ramen and OJ” is probably Lucas’ best work, somehow spinning his autobiography into a song in under three minutes and thirty-eight seconds with verses such as, “I dreamed about it since I was a jit,”
Joyner Lucas headlined Joyner Fest Sept. 5 at the Palladium, his fi rst local concert in about fi ve years. JASON GREENOUGH/FILE
“came from the bottom and got me a check” and “I done did (expletive) you couldn’t imagine, leveled up and then bought me a mansion, I can never go back to a has-been, I can never go back to the old days, no way, back to walking to work on a cold day, back to thinking my ex was my soulmate.” “Rambo” complements the rapperevolved-businessman’s claim to his throne well with references to Lucas’ ever-growing music management app, Tully, and his recent dabbling into the world of investing through verses like “I’ve been on my (expletive) business way, talkin’ like a (expletive) business man” and “fully-loaded won’t run out of ammo, ain’t no problem that I couldn’t handle” while at the same time leading us to Lucas’ second most popular theme this year; the glorifi cation of his shadow self. “I’m a player so I keep a bitch where I’m at” Lucas says confi dently in “Ram-
bo,” “My money long only thing short is my temper” and “I ain’t perfect might’ve made a few mistake, might’ve cheated on my (sexist expletive) but I knew she would’ve stayed,” Lucas says unapologetically in “My Escape.” But it’s in his collab with J. Cole, “Your Heart” — which trended number one in the world for weeks after its debut — where Lucas portrays a very raw and transparent persona of the man he’s owned being in relationships. In the “Your Heart” music video costarring J. Cole — who initially reached out to Lucas asking him to direct the fi lm —Lucas is witnessed sitting back calmly, watching as his signifi cant other rips apart their house, stabs and shreds his personal belongings, and sets his car on fi re in a fi t of hysteria after fi nding out he cheated on her. I can’t say I know what it’s like to live in Lucas’ head, but I can imagine it’s very dramatic. Nonetheless, the music video felt pretty relatable
coming from a woman’s perspective. Lucas gets right to the point in the intro with his verse “I broke your heart, huh, you knew I was a (expletive) (racial expletive) from the start, huh, you should’ve listened when they said I was a dawg, huh, you should’ve listened to your head when you had thoughts, huh” before J. Cole responds with what Lucas refers to as “big homie talk,” saying, “I hate a (expletive) (expletive) used to be a (expletive) (racial expletive), couldn’t even blame her if she did (expletive) (racial expletive),” “you run your (sexist expletive) through the mud you deserve that so you can feel it for yourself where it hurt at,” and “what used to be the dynamic duo’s in fl ames, and you too proud to see that you hold the blame, from all that playin’ (racial expletive) we too old for games, mayne.” Out of left fi eld came “Late to the Party,” featuring Ty Dolla Sign. An actual “literally, what?” moment, this release surprised fans the most, since partying and night crawling aren’t topics Lucas typically runs to. This is proven by his “Dreams Unfold” video, a hilarious yet important attempt made by Lucas to express his concerns regarding the industry’s toxic marketing of drugs, violence and sex to minors — an issue Lucas is very passionate about, considering his reaction to the music video with Lil TJay being removed from the internet just a day after its debut. “They’ll put millions in $$$ behind what they wanna brainwash us and our kids with,” Lucas tweeted on Aug. 26. Lucas’ natural penchant for vivid story-telling are why I’ve always considered him to be a music critic’s rapper. However, I fi nd it harder to get the full Joyner Lucas experience without an album. But even without, Lucas successfully tapped into multiple layers of his character over the course of nine separate records while walking his listeners through a rollercoaster of emotions: anger, hostility, relief, accountability, pride, celebration and fun. In 2021, all sides of Joyner Lucas were present.
