Royce Da 5'9" Drops Highly-Anticipated Mixtape Album

[Damien J.]

This year, The Bar Exam will be administered on April 10, 2007. But it won't be lawyers that are put to the test. MCs throughout Hip-Hop will have to check their rhymes at the door when Royce Da 5'9" releases his highly-anticipated mixtape album, The Bar Exam, which teams him up with DJ Statik Selektah and DJ Premier.

Royce's last two collaborations with the legendary DJ Premier, “Boom” and “Hip Hop,” were critically acclaimed, receiving heavy video and radio rotation. He sets off The Bar Exam with another Premo-produced classic, “Hit em!” The project not only features freestyles from Royce over Premo’s signature sound, but also enlists the production talent of Bink! (Jay-Z, Amerie), Carlos “Six July” Broady (Notorious BIG, Diddy), J. Cardim (Saigon, Papoose), DC (Termanology, Army of the Pharaohs), and Statik Selektah (AZ, KRS-ONE, Nas). The Bar Exam also introduces M.I.C.’s newest artist, Kid Vishis.

The Bar Exam puts Royce back in the spotlight, although he never left the scene. In between recording albums, the Detroit-native (who has come a long way from rocking shows with Eminem) co-wrote for Diddy on his hit record “Tell Me,” featuring Christina Aguilera. The song, from Diddy’s album Press Play, peaked at #1 on The Billboard 200 chart. He also had the privilege to tour overseas with his close friend Proof of D-12, months before his unfortunate passing. “[Proof and I] went through our stuff, but we were always good friends. A lot of the politics and stuff divided us, but the love was always there. That was my man,” said Royce in an interview with The Source.

“Tell the underground I’m shinin’, I’ll be back, I promise,” Royce Da 5’9” declares on “Hit em!”

The March 2007 Source magazine features Royce on the cover of their “Hip-Hop Behind Bars 3” issue, on newsstands now. In his interview, Royce explains how a DUI charge turned into a one-year sentence after he violated his parole. But he turned his unfortunate situation around by demonstrating his strong work ethic and dedication to the game. Allowed a daily work release from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Royce has been recording like a beast in the studio. He will be officially released in the summer of 2007, and a number of power players have already expressed their interest in signing him. Both Diddy and Nas have talked about Royce in recent interviews. DJ Premier will executive produce Street Hop, Royce’s upcoming project scheduled for release later this year on his own independent label, M.I.C.

The Bar Exam will be available exclusively on hiphopsite.com, nickelnine.com and select mixtape locations on April 10, 2007. Traffic Entertainment will distribute the official retail release worldwide on May 27, 2007.

Source: www.yoraps.com

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