Joyner Lucas sets stage for 'ADHD' with 'Lotto'

Right before the COVID-19 crisis exploded and forced everybody to largely remain in their homes, Worcester rapper Joyner Lucas released what's probably the last single ahead of the March 27 release of his new album, “ADHD.” Much of the album has already been released — Lucas puts out music videos at a frenetic pace — and much of the game of listening to his music is to figuring out how the pieces eventually will all fit together.

The newest single, “Lotto,” — which can't be embedded on Telegram.com because of language concerns, but can be listened to on Spotify — serves as a pretty good prelude, touching on many of the previous singles' themes, although without making use of some of the earlier established musical motifs which have appeared throughout songs such as the title track and “Revenge.” Instead, it makes use of orchestral tracks and a dirty trap beat, giving it a distinctive feel. Indeed, more than some of the other songs so far, “Lotto” is a starting point, or maybe a conclusion. We'll know when the album drops.

The title “Lotto” refers to Lucas' sudden fame and success, but it also infers an element of chance. Lucas is usually more likely to attribute his success to hard work and a constant grind, which seems correct at this vantage, but then, he's always been prone to exploring contrasts and internal contradictions as an artist, such as on earlier works “I'm Not Racist” and his collaboration with Eminem, “Lucky You,” the latter of which likewise touches on fame, and how it can change the world around an artist, for both good and bad.

Perhaps the most telling bit of lyrics, amid the rapper swagger and gangster imagery, are the lines, “I think I need to be straight/Fix your vibes, you need to be laced/You just need God or you need to meet Mase,” the latter being an immensely successful rapper who quit music for a few years to become an ordained minister. That's one of Lucas' better tricks: showing with one hand almost expected (if catchy) gangster rap language — “Moreno, gringo, hembra, vato/Gangsters, hustlers, killers follow/I'm the realest (racial epithet) I know” — then with the other more subtly displaying a sense of unease with the whole situation, and all it's trappings.

It's an interesting song to drop right before “ADHD's” release, and one that seems more revealing with each listen.

Email Victor D. Infante at Victor.Infante@Telegram.com and follow him on Twitter @ocvictor.