Joyner Lucas Artistfacts

August 17, 1988
Joyner Lucas, real name Gary Maurice Lucas Jr., was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He gained notoriety online with his 2015 single "Ross Capicchioni" but his career took off after he signed with Atlantic Records in 2017. He issued the controversial political track "I'm Not Racist," which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 2019, as well as the mixtape 508-507-2209. In 2020 he independently released his full-length debut album, ADHD, via his own label, Twenty Nine Music Group. The album, as well as its 2025 sequel, ADHD 2, was inspired by his experiences with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, which he was diagnosed with as a child.
Before he was Joyner Lucas, he went by G-Storm and then Future Joyner. He retooled the latter name to avoid confusion with the rapper Future, his future collaborator on the 2023 single "Blackout."
Lucas calls Eminem one of his biggest musical influences. He guested on Em's 2018 single "Lucky You," which gave Lucas his first Top 10 entry on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song in 2019.
He and Chris Brown planned a collaborative mixtape that was to be titled Angels & Demons, but it never came to fruition. They did, however, release two singles to promote it in 2018. The first, "Stranger Things," was named after the Netflix sci-fi series and was built on a sample of the show's theme song. The other was "I Don't Die," which references the video game Mortal Kombat.
He made his acting debut in the 2003 action comedy The Family Plan, starring Mark Wahlberg as a government assassin turned car salesman who is forced to go on the run with his unsuspecting family. Lucas plays Coogan, one of Wahlberg's henchmen.
Lucas had a longstanding feud with the rapper Logic that dated back to their appearance on Tech N9ne's 2016 single "Sriracha." Logic was initially supposed to be the only guest on the track and was allegedly miffed when Lucas came onboard. The following year, Lucas took a shot at Logic on "Mask On," his remix of the Future hit "Mask Off," where he warns, "don't you compare me to Logic (never)."

He also accused Logic of purposely pulling attention from his 508-507-2209 single "I'm Sorry" by releasing "1-800-273-8255," which became a #3 hit. The rappers called a truce in 2019, with Logic making a surprise guest performance on "ISIS" from ADHD.
He dated Ashanti for two years after the R&B singer played his love interest in the music video for "Fall Slowly" from his 2020 EP, Evolution. In 2024, Lucas told The Jason Lee Podcast that their relationship fell apart because he wasn't ready to make a serious commitment, but he still thinks she's "a super dope person."
Lucas grew up watching The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air and listening to Will Smith's music. He turned his admiration into the 2020 song "Will" and shot a music video where he embodies some of Smith's most famous roles from Fresh Prince, Bad Boys, and Men In Black, among others. A couple months later, Smith appeared on a remix of the tune, rapping about his rise to fame and giving props to Lucas as "a legend in the makin'."
In 2016 he had a son, Joyner Messiah Lucas, with his on-off girlfriend Carmen Julissa Ayala. The songs "Forever" and "Happy Birthday" detail his complex feelings about becoming a dad for the first time unexpectedly. The younger Joyner made cameo appearances in his dad's music videos, including "Will."
Lucas is outspoken about rappers who glorify drug use in their songs. He grew up around addicts so he knows how hard drugs can destroy someone's life, and he even refuses to smoke marijuana because he doesn't like the way it makes him feel.
Lucas says his ideal creative environment is the inside of his car, particularly when he's in his old stomping grounds around Worcester. "I like to go to places I grew up and park outside and write," he told Billboard magazine in 2022. "Reminds me of where I was and gives me that feeling I felt when I was in the trenches trying to get out. I get flashbacks of what my life was. Sometimes I drive around to certain places I used to be when I would daydream about being where I'm at today. Sometimes, I park outside of old jobs I had and just write for hours."
Lucas drew the ire of the Catholic Church after he filmed the music video for "Devil's Work," a 2019 song about the tragic deaths of his fellow rappers, at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Worcester. Even though he had permission to film there, the priest regretted his decision once he heard the lyrics about God choosing the wrong people to die. Lucas responded by saying the church was well aware of what the song was about beforehand and got paid for the use of the building.

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