“I’m Not Joyner” by Don Q
This is a track that has started a major rap feud. The titular Joyner referred to in “I’m Not Joyner” is Joyner Lucas, who a short time ago had a well-publicized beef with rapper Tory Lanez. Well this time it is Don Q who is coming at Tory. And he’s letting him know from the jump that he’s “not Joyner”. In other words, he is not going to take a loss from Lanez as Joyner apparently has.
There are two factors that seem to have sparked this beef. One is Tory’s ultra-cocky attitude and bravado. Another is an accusation levied against Lanez by Don Q (and others) alleging that Tory stole some of Don’s lyrics. In other words, the fact that Tory claimed to be “the best rapper alive right now” caused Q to publicly respond to a long-standing charge of Lanez jacking some of his bars and subsequently release “I’m Not Joyner”.
The track starts off by Q insinuating that this is more than a mere rap beef. To put it in another way, now that Lanez got him started, he’s ready to go at full strength. Then in the first verse, the leading issue Don refers to is the aforementioned copycat lyrical choices of Tory. He even states that when he confronted Tory face-to-face concerning the plagiarism, Lanez admitted such was true.
Later he points out one of the ways he’s actually not like Joyner, in that Lucas went to college whereas Don is a “corner student”, meaning he was educated on the streets. However, at one point, somewhat contrariwise, Don actually claims to be a fan of Tory and even commends him for being “one of the few” rappers who actually writes his own lyrics.
Don goes on to diss Lanez’s physical appearance, specifically his hairline, which seems to be a favorite talking point of Tory’s enemies. However, most of the lyrics seem to be dedicated to Don crossing that thin line where it can’t be concretely ascertained whether Q is threatening Tory lyrically or if he’s actually trying to intimidate him with the risk of physical harm.
Facts about “I’m Not Joyner”
- Don Q wrote the lyrics of this track.
- The song samples Puff Daddy’s 1998 collab with Busta Rhymes and The Notorious B.I.G. titled “Victory”.
- Don Q dropped this track on January 26, 2018. Two days after it came out, Tory Lanez responded to it with his diss track “Don Queen”.
