It was just year 2016 when Joyner found himself depressed and nervous as he awaited the arrival of his first child, Joyner Messiah Lucas. At the time, the Isis rapper was nowhere close to where he wanted to be in his music career. He thought having a child would derail his goals but little did he know, his son would be the driving force behind his success.
“I was dream chasing so I didn’t want a child at that time,” said Lucas. “I almost feel like if I didn’t have my son, it would have taken me longer to get to where I’m at because having him put me in survival mode.”
He instantly felt a connection when he held his son for the first time as he sat in the hospital room chair. He got to play him one of his favorite records, Jah Cure “Never Find.”He chose that song because Island music has always been a sentiment of peace, The same peace that he aspired for himself in life at that time. Not to mention the words of the song, “you’ll never find no one to love you like I do,’ held true to him.
Eight years later, the Worchester native went on to achieve a substancial amount of success including back to back acting roles in 2 major films The Family Plan and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. He is the Co-Founder of the Tully App and has landed 6 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. He’s been consistently working to say the least and is currently on his Not Now I’m Busy tour. Joyner recently welcomed a second son who is a year and a half. Despite his hectic work schedule, when it comes to his sons, he makes fatherhood and being present his priority.
“I make it a point to fly back to see them, pick my oldest son up from school and drop them off,” he said. “Right now I am on tour and have been on tour for a month but have flown home at least 3 times to see them.”
Joyner shared his perspective on parenting. He believes it’s important not to compare how he was raised to how his sons are currently being raised because it wouldn’t be fair to them. He also explained that he doesn’t know what type of parent he would have been if he had to work a 9-5.
“I can’t punish them for being blessed in ways that I wasn’t,” said the ADHD rapper. “My sons were born into different circumstances than I had when I was a kid so I can’t relate to their lifestyle.”
As proud as his kids are of him, he is even prouder of them. He shared one of his proudest father moments is watching his 8-year old son be able to take accountability since the age of 5. The fact that most adult women and men can’t even do that, lets him know that he is moving in the right direction when it comes to parenting.
Though he is a very private person, it’s clear just from the few posts he has shared regarding his sons that he not afraid to spoil them. He gifted his son Joyner a chain, showed off his home that includes and indoor and outdoor pool, basketball court and honestly it just looks like their own person amusement park. Beyond the material things, he doesn’t believe that is the reason his children are living a great life.
“My kids are living their best kid lives because their mother, father and intermediate family are not in survival mode because when you are in survival mode you tend to take that out on your kids and the kids subconsciously receive that backlash of that,” he said. “My kids are living their best life because we don’t have to think about financial freedom so our main focus is raising our kids and giving them all the tools that they need in life to be great.”