Rapper Joyner Lucas is the latest celebrity to join ‘The Jason Lee Show,’ where he tells host Jason Lee all about his new album ‘Not Now I’m Busy,’ admits to dating Ashanti, recalls his beef with Karen Civil and past comments about openly gay rapper Lil Nas X, his time working his idols Eminem and Will Smith, and starring in ‘Bad Boys 4.’
In the show, Joyner Lucas talks about his upbringing in Massachusetts, and growing up with his sister while being raised by a single mother. During the conversation, Lucas recalls his issues with his biological father and speaks proudly of his stepfather. Speaking vulnerably about his birth father, Lucas calls him a “b*tch a** n***a,” who is “unfortunately still alive.” He claims he will be “lucky” the day he passes, further noting that he is a “perfect example of what NOT to be.”
Speaking about his stepfather, Lucas says they have a great relationship, noting that if he didn’t have him in his life, he would have grown up to be a menace. The rapper says his bonus dad was in the streets and gang-affiliated, so he showed him that lifestyle but also more that life has to offer. He even notes that because of his stepdad, he learned to be one too, admitting he’s been a stepfather before.
And speaking on his personal/dating life, Joyner Lucas also admitted to dating singer Ashanti. The two began sparking romance rumors in September 2020, when the singer featured on Lucas’ song “Fall Slowly.” The song was accompanied by a steamy music video, which only further fueled rumors, but neither ever confessed to anything. Finally breaking his silence, Lucas confirms the rumors, further admitting that he and Ashanti dated for two years. Trying not to speak too much on the relationship, being that she has since reunited with her ex-boyfriend, rapper Nelly, and expecting a baby with him, Lucas gave few details.
Joyner Lucas said Ashanti is an amazing person and is super happy for her and where she is in life. He says he knows she’s about to have a baby with Nelly and is happy for her because she always wanted to be a mother. He says they used to have those conversations, wanting to have kids, however, he wasn’t in a place in his life to do so at the time.
Although he was in love with her, noting how easy it was to fall for her, Lucas says he had to let her go because what she wanted and needed at the time, he couldn’t fulfill. But, in hindsight, he is happy she “got away,” because she spun the block on Nelly, she’s happy, and is having a baby. He adds that she is going to be a great mom and already told her that. Additionally, Joyner Lucas, 35, notes that they had an 8-year age difference with Ashanti, 43, but that he never cared or bothered him because he loves older women. He loves that they’re more wise and experienced than women around his age.
Which would explain the rumors about Joyner Lucas and radio host Angela Yee, 48. However, Lucas admits that those dating rumors were exactly that, just hearsay, which he doesn’t know even came from. He also briefly acknowledges his crush on singer SZA. Host Jason Lee mentions Joyner Lucas is in love with SZA, and the rapper blushes.
Near the end of the interview, during a game of “Smash or Pass,” Joyner Lucas also shares his interest in Chloe Bailey, Tyla, Lori Harvey, Lala, Mariah Carey, and more. Meanwhile, he feels otherwise on Sexyy Red, Yung Miami, Megan Fox, Coi Leray, Larsa Pippen, and more.
Before getting to the games, Joyner Lucas recalls getting played by career consultant and marketing strategist Karen Civil, whom he previously exposed for allegedly stealing $60,000 from him. In September 2021, Lucas aired Civil out online, causing several more rappers and other celebrities to defend him and share their own negative experiences with the industry-known marketer.
Recalling the beef, Lucas says that he had $60,000 as his last bit of funds given from his investor, who advised him that it was a good idea to send the money to Civil to help push his career. He trusted her and knew who she was, noting the work she had done with Nipsey Hussle. By this time, Lucas said the investor had been $500,000 deep in investing into the rapper’s career and was tapped out, so when Civil allegedly took the money and ghosted Lucas, it messed everybody up.
Joyner Lucas says he was introduced to Karen Civil by a mutual friend and that she allegedly promised him so much. However, he says things quickly went south once she got the money and stopped answering calls, and when she finally did, he alleges she was on vacation and blasted him for blowing up her phone while she was away. Feeling defeated, Lucas told his investor about the situation and how bad he felt that he’d spent all that money and nothing came from it. He says he didn’t know what he was doing or how to move forward, but his investor wouldn’t let him give up.
Joyner Lucas says Karen Civil had a mentality and carried herself in a way that she didn’t think he was going to make it and be able to expose her as seriously as he did. He says she knew he was vulnerable and expecting a baby at the time, but didn’t think he become as successful as he did, with a big enough platform, to air her out. Lucas recalls the first time he blew up Civil’s spot and claims she sent him a written apology that she wanted him to post, which included him publicly apologizing for accusing her of stealing money. He says in the apology, written for him to post, she referred to herself as a “mogul.”
After waiting to get more recognition and clout, Joyner Lucas waited until his platform was big enough to get back at Karen Civil. This is when he called her out in September 2021, which led to fellow rapper Cam’ron reposting Lucas’ posts and reaching out to him with his own experience of Karen Civil allegedly trying to extort him. Speaking to himself and viewers, Lucas says the lesson learned here was to stop hiring consultants.
Joyner Lucas also recalls calling out another person: rapper Lil Nas X. Before calling out Karen Civil, months before, in March 2021, Lucas criticized Lil Nas over his music video for “MONTERO,” which showed him descending into hell on a stripper pole and giving Satan a lap dance.
Lucas tweeted, “That @LilNasX video is wild but as an artist, he doing everything he supposed to do. Creating viral moments, making people talk, & creating content he already knew you was going to react to. It’s a formula guaranteed to work. I doubt he actually worships the devil. I think the biggest problem for me is the fact he don’t understand ‘Old Town Road’ is every kids’ anthem. Children love him for that record. They tuned in and subscribed to his channels. So with no disclaimer he just dropped some left field ish & all our kids seen it. Smh.”
Lil Nas clapped back, noting that his hit “Old Town Road” also has lyrics not suitable for children, stating “I literally sing about lean & adultery in ‘Old Town Road.’ You decided to let your child listen. Blame yourself.” Lucas further noted, “Bruh you literally won and accepted Nickelodeon kids choice awards for this record. 😭 Wym? @LilNasX.”
Joyner Lucas also recalls his song “What If I Was Gay,” which features his idol Eminem, getting leaked and making him look gay. Lucas explains how everything went down with his vision for the song and music video and how things quickly went left when someone on Eminem’s side leaked the song, ruining Lucas’ well-thought-out rollout. He says the song was to be premiered to the public with the music video first.
Lucas says when he learned the song was leaked, he yelled at Em’s manager, Def Jam CEO Paul Rosenburg, because the song got leaked on their side, and also because Lucas and Slim Shady were being called gay. Lucas says his art was exploited in the wrong and the tabloids and social media streets presumed he and Em were using the song to come out as gay. The rapper says he wanted to address the rumors so badly, but his manager, publicist, plus Eminem and his team, told him not to because it would only add fuel to the fire.
Both rappers were upset at the leak and with Em’s team dropping the ball, however, Lucas was even more upset because his work, which was going to be a big moment, was wasted and had to die due to the rollout being wrecked. He was also upset because he knew that Eminem had always been pegged as homophobic and the song would have helped change the narrative of his views on homosexuality. Lucas says they did everything on their end to not have the song leaked, down to him even filming the music video with headphones, so that no one could secretly record the song.
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Also in the show, Joyner Lucas speaks on Kendrick Lamar coming for J. Cole and Drake recently, on the Metro Boomin’ and Future track “Like What.” He also speaks on his own rap beef with one of Eminem’s rivals, rapper Benzino. He talks about who he believes is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) in rap, and talks about the late and great rapper DMX, whom he claims didn’t receive his flowers enough and no one ever be like.
Joyner Lucas also says he doesn’t believe he’s received his flowers either, and likely won’t get them until he too has passed. He says he mostly gets his credit in private but has publicly received his flowers from his idol Eminem, plus Rihanna and Chris Brown.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lucas talks about his love for Tupac and how most of his records are influenced by the late and great rapper. He talks about his love for storytelling in his music, a creative process he loves to explore and does best. He says it’s not intentional for him, it’s just him being guided by a high power to get a message out to the world. The topics could be about racism or opioids and suicide, although he hasn’t personally battled the latter, it doesn’t matter because with his storytelling raps he’s able to put himself in the perspective of those who have and can provide healing.
Lucas also talks about his creative process when it comes to music videos, another love of his: storyboarding and directing. He notes how before becoming independent, he used to have to tell the directors his ideas and pray their vision aligned. Now, all of the creative control is in his hands.
Speaking of becoming independent, Joyner Lucas shares how the journey hasn’t been so smooth. He recalls being signed to Atlantic Records and eventually leaving. He says the goal at first was to get signed as all the artists he looked up to were signed, but there was no independence or pieces of control in it. Some of his favorite artists were signed to the biggest and best labels, like Bad Boy Records, Death Row Records, So So Def Recordings, No Limit Records, Cash Money Records, etc. He thought this is how everyone made it, got rich, and got validated: you had to be signed by a major label.
However, Lucas says after getting signed, almost immediately he knew it wasn’t for him. He knew that the label’s vision and his vision didn’t align, noting labels are a “one size fits all” type of deal, and that they share the same formulas, structures, and protocols for everybody. He was also so used to doing things on his own, not having anyone to answer to, but himself and the fans. So when he didn’t want to follow the rules, like being told when and what to drop, he was ready to leave the label.
Especially when he was told he wasn’t big enough to do certain things and work with big-name stars, and still had to foot the bill and fund his things on his own. He says he also had to wait for approvals and by the time he would get them, it’d be 5-6 months too late. Lucas says the label essentially didn’t know how to “break a Joyner Lucas,” they never had someone like him. In all fairness, he says he doesn’t believe his treatment was intentional, things were just incompatible.
Lucas even found himself rebelling against the label at times, like when he dropped “I’m Not Racist,” something he did despite the label wanting him to do. He says it was his own frustrations that got to him and he knew that he had something groundbreaking, something that could affect the world, so he showed the label his ideas, in hopes that they would love it, and when they gave him a “NO” and told him when to drop, he went to his manager and said forget that, we’re shaking things up.
To note: the label wanted to drop in March, it was November. But as soon as Lucas uploaded the song, it blew up. He says he took a nap after hitting publish and his mother woke him up and told him that the song was on CNN and had gone viral.
Aside from having hardly any creative control while signed, Joyner Lucas says he was broke the whole time. He says he received a $100,000 advance and after everyone got paid out, he was left with $60,000. Half of it went to his mother. He says before he got signed, he made a deal with her that if he got a deal she would quit smoking, something she’d done all of her life. She quit and he also bought her a $30,000 car. He then took to social media and said he told his mom to quit her job as he gotten signed.
However, the label got mad, specifically his A&R who called him and told him he shouldn’t have done that, noting his mom will likely have to go back to work because things don’t work that fast. Because of this lack of faith in him, Lucas condemned the label, further calling all labels a “sham,” “bullsh*t,” a façade.” Lucas says after he signed, his money quickly dwindled, he ended up having a son, and eventually found himself doing “some street sh*t” to make money and sustain his family.
Joyner Lucas continues to recall his financial woes with Atlantic Records, claiming he had emails proving their employees weren’t working for him to become successful and that they broke their contract. Because of this, they offered Lucas another large sum to remain quiet, stay, and make things right. He opted to stay, however, he later realized the contract didn’t make sense when the percentages were broken down and put against the amount of work to be done on his end. He says they wanted 6 albums for $1 million, but he would hardly make any money from it.
Once Lucas finally escaped his deal, he says that’s when he got rich. He now distributes all of his music on his own through Orchard, owns all of his masters, and in 2015, he even created an app called Tully, which provides a variety of tools for musicians and music business executives to use for career management. It’s also a pre-production tool for artists to write and record music, and more. Lucas says he raised $9 million to get the app off the ground and partnered with Sony Music, who also helped fund the app in 2020. They have since formed a partnership and have been working together ever since.
Although Joyner Lucas says he and his family aren’t in survival mode anymore, he notes that he still isn’t where he wants to be commercially. However, he adds, it’s all God’s plan, making an example with Nipsey Hussle’s independent-led career. He knows the grind is a lot harder for independent artists, but also knows that he makes more money than artists who are on major labels. He owns 100% of his music and all of the royalties and streams coming in.
Speaking on his new album, ‘Not Now I’m Busy,’ Joyner Lucas says the title is a testament to where he is in life. He has a small team and he’s trying to balance fatherhood, the girl, the music, etc. He says some of the concepts from the album include him having to kill off the old version of himself to become who he is now. He also talks on certain tracks and features with Jelly Roll, Logic, Twista, and more.
On his track with Logic and Twista, Joyner Lucas reveals his adoration of Twista’s skills but also notes that despite how insane they are, he had to muster up the courage to tell Twista to rewrite his verse. Lucas says Twista was trying to “bar up” and be metaphorical, but the song was giving that vibe. Twista obliged to rewrite the verse but says he was also mad because no one had ever asked him to change a verse. However, in the long run, he was hap[y because it made him dig deep enough to become vulnerable, emotional, and even cry.
Joyner Lucas says in addition to having Twista change a verse, he also asked his idol Eminem to redo a verse for him as well. He says it was hard to ask, but that it needed to be done because Em hadn’t listened to Lucas’ concept. Lucas says he didn’t want to come off as disrespectful, but he felt the direction Em was going in didn’t fit the track and subsequent music video he already had planned out. Em understood the process, and that Lucas didn’t think the verse was wack, but just had a different vibe.
Lucas says he also has a song with his other idol Will Smith in the can and is waiting to drop it when it makes sense. Also speaking on Smith, Lucas talks about the viral Oscars slap and how he reached out to Smith after. Lucas also speaks on his upcoming role in the fourth installment of the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence film series ‘Bad Boys.’
#Socialites, be sure to check out the full episode below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!