Similar to their Sean Price piece, Complex joins Nickel Nine to breakdown his most essential gems. If you’re not fond of the individual clicks you have to go through to read each article, head over to Oh Word and install their A Life Less Complex bookmarklet which simplifies everything into one concise page.
Royce Da 5’9” is living proof that sometimes, there are second acts in life. After a promising start in the late ‘90s where he was heralded as the next big thing coming out of Detroit, Royce’s career took a wrong turn. Through most of the aughts—as his buddy Eminem shot to super stardom—Nickel Nine flirted with obscurity, alcohol abuse, and complete self-destruction.
Yet here is he today in a better position then ever before. His group Slaughterhouse is signed to Shady. Although their album is awhile away, he just dropped Hell: The Sequel alongside his partner-in-rhyme Eminem this week. And in many ways (and he’s the first to admit this) he’s a better rapper than he was before. What happened to Royce Da 5’9”? To find out, we got on the horn with Royce to ask about why he loves rapping about his dick, how he didn’t like Joe Budden initially, and whether or not that was a real bazooka he threatened Benzino with…
READ: Royce Da 5′ 9″ Breaks Down His 25 Most Essential Songs
PREVIOUS: Royce Da 5′ 9″ – Second Place (prod. DJ Premier)
Favorite Track from Royce has to be Ding! Ding! produced by Premier
SLAUGHTERHOUSE!!!!!!
No post about Pac, huh.
Royce was pretty weak back in the day…LOL I respect the guy alot more now
ohhh wow didnt kno those songs royce had ghost written the message by dre.
^^^ Crazy, right? You’d think being that the song was about his brother and pretty personal, that Dre would’ve written it himself.
No “Ding!” and no “Motown 25″?
I think Dre has other people write for him not only because hes not really an MC but because he has producer ear to the fullest. He probably just looks at the lyrics as another instrument on the beat. So hes more concerned with the pattern and melody of the words with the beat and probably really not tripping on the meaning of the words. Dre takes so long to put out music , its gotta be something specific hes looking for in the sound.
“Producer ear” is just a term some people use for a person that over analyzes the sound of everything they do in the studio so much that the meaning of the song doesnt even matter to them.
and with that the marty mcfly hate has been queued
I love Royce but Em sucks dick now. I don’t know why he decided to put out that Hell album. He should’ve at least sat Em down and told him to stop shouting and soundin’ off beat if he wanted to put out Bad Meets Evil.
ppl can stop questioning what came first now…Dead Wrong or Renegade
How the fuck is Vagina & Skinny Jeans Royce’s essential songs. They left a lot of songs off there.