JOYNER LUCAS

I'm not trying to make everything this fantasy world about how I'm living this lavish life that I'm not really living.

I've never been into artists promoting drugs.

I stopped watching sports because I didn't want to watch someone running up and down the field making millions and I'm not doing anything about it. That methodology made me go harder and take control of my career.

Eminem has been someone that I've always considered the greatest ever, to ever do it. You know what I mean? In every aspect, the storytelling abilities, lyrical ability, honesty. You can hear it in my music that I'm heavily influenced by that.

When I was a kid, I was just rapping about school and stuff like that.

I have been making music since I was a kid. I have written music since I was, like, seven or eight. I was in the studio at 9, 10. So I've had a lot of practice over a lot of years.

I personally think J-Cole is a better rapper than me; that's how I feel.

I think Lil Uzi is dope. Future is dope. I love Young Thug. I'm a huge Young Thug fan.

Honestly, I started playing the pause game right after the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards cypher. That's around when pauses really started.

I think everybody's gone through some racist moment in their life.

I've always tried to stay away from doing remixes to songs that were popular, because too many people do that. But that's something the fans want to hear, me over those type of beats. So I do it for them.

I can't make everybody happy.

Honestly, when I do a lot of records where it's super lyrical, all that it is to prove and to show people, like, I can really rap. I can switch flows - I can go with the best of them - so first of all, I want you to respect me as a rapper.

I stopped watching sports because I didn't want to watch someone running up and down the field making millions and I'm not doing anything about it. That methodology made me go harder and take control of my career.

Eminem has been someone that I've always considered the greatest ever, to ever do it. You know what I mean? In every aspect, the storytelling abilities, lyrical ability, honesty. You can hear it in my music that I'm heavily influenced by that.

I just love music, in general. I love art.

I began seeing certain things happen in my life and other people's lives and getting inspired by it and writing about it. And that's where you get 'Happy Birthday' from and 'Ross Capicchioni' from or you even get 'I'm Sorry' from.

Nobody is really going to bring my vision to life like the way that I am. Before I was doing my own music videos, it was not really my vision.

I always struggled with the idea of forgiving my enemies.

I was born in the studio. I knew I loved music. I found my niche at, like, seven or eight. That's when I knew I wanted to rap.

Honestly, I started playing the pause game right after the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards cypher. That's around when pauses really started.

I personally think J-Cole is a better rapper than me; that's how I feel.

A lot of artists are afraid to be themselves and afraid to tell people what it really is.

I'm not trying to make everything this fantasy world about how I'm living this lavish life that I'm not really living.

I think everybody's gone through some racist moment in their life.

I've always felt misunderstood. Growing up, it's been my word against the teachers' or my parents' word, and nobody would ever listen to me.

When I did 'Happy Birthday,' I wrote the treatment for the video before I wrote the record. And once I wrote the video, I had a clear understanding of what I wanted; I created the soundtrack to that video.

When I was a kid, I was just rapping about school and stuff like that.

I'm not a mumble rapper.

I have been making music since I was a kid. I have written music since I was, like, seven or eight. I was in the studio at 9, 10. So I've had a lot of practice over a lot of years.

My videos are meant to make people look at themselves at the end of the day. They all have a message.

I've never been into artists promoting drugs.

I don't collab often.

As we grow, we learn to handle situations differently than we normally would.

I think Lil Uzi is dope. Future is dope. I love Young Thug. I'm a huge Young Thug fan.