Coming like 15 months after the first single from this project "I Love" was released, we finally get Joyner's debut album "ADHD".
I love Joyner me, I think his 2 mixtapes that are on Spotify "Along Came Joyner" and "508-507-2009" show what a talented and versatile lyricist he is. They are filled with bangers and were a great introduction to his life. His best skill is his storytelling. Tracks like "Keep It 100" and "Ross Capiccioni" are really great examples of it.
I was excited for this album to come out. But I've been excited for time. This has been the longest roll out of an album I can remember. He created a lot of buzz for himself at the back end of 2018, off the back of the Em feature, "I'm Not Racist, and the Tory Lanez beef, that would have been the best time to drop "ADHD". But I understand he had issues with the label (I think he left it), the new feature with Em got leaked, so I think there may have been a few reasons that this album got delayed.
Eventually, the buzz faded, which is understandable. Even the artwork for this album was just nothing new - even though that is minor, I feel when you only see the art work of the album on the day it releases, it is always way more exciting.
The one cool thing of the album roll out was that it did give a lot of attention to each single, which was Joyner's intention. I liked all the singles. But some of them should have just been saved for the album - looking back, we didn't need "Lotto", "10 Bands" or "ADHD" as singles, I'd have kept them for the album release date, the other singles I can more understand due to timing or the nature of the music videos. If all these songs would've came out fresh on the album, I would have been blown away. But on the album there was only 5 songs I hadn't heard, plus I already know how the album was going to end. That's like seeing the final scene in a movie trailer.
On this album Joyner show's his versatility, moving in to spaces I haven't seen him go before. For example, teaming up with Young Thug on "The War" was cool. Joyner probably knows he's not an amazing singer but he can change the inflection of words to make really catchy cadences. His delivery is always so real. I seen people saying he sounds bored but I don't get that.
He's always had the ability to write nice melodies that accompany the beat really well, you can hear this on "Still Cant Love" as well as the track previously mentioned with Young Thug.
His ability to create this catchy, melodic tracks but also fire off at times puts him in a space of his own. He just needs to master it now and try get it to a really elite level.
Some of the beats were slightly generic - just a bit standard, Shawn Cee said they were like"Type Beats" that you find on YouTube, and although "Type Beats" are usually hard, you just know that the artists that they are trying to replicate would never actually use them. I'd like to see Joyner work with Mike Will Made-it or Metro Boomin, two of my favourite trap producers, they'd bring the best out of Joyner 100%.
I like Joyner working with artists like Young Thug. He could do that more. He's a rare artist. he can do records with Chris Brown, Young Thug and also Logic and Eminem, it's great.
The track "Will" is exceptional. One of the strongest in the album. Dropping that video a few days before the album was smart as it got a lot of heat on the internet, I think it was trending #1 on YouTube. Plus, it's an important song. That kind of content was lacking a bit on this album, you get a bit of "Devil's Work". I like that introspective Joyner, we got that a lot more on 508-507.
Yeah, so overall the album is really good. I have appreciation for a lot of the songs. Joyner is clearly a skilled lyricist, creative and a talented songwriter. Yeah not all of his bars are perfect, but for his generation he's elite and definitely underrated. Flow-wise he can mix it with Kendrick and J Cole. He just needs to really get it down now.
Each song on here is good, but as an album, the way it was released just killed it. Going forward, I'd like to hear him do a mixtape this year, there's no reason for him to rush into another album, but I do think he needs to remain active.
But yeah keep releasing good music Joyner. But for me, if you really want to be great and finally get the credit you deserve, I'd try re-connect with what made you so amazing in the first place. You have potential to be so original, and top tier.
Star Track - Broke and Stupid
7/10
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