New Royce da 5'9 interview

[Jome]

Royce Da 5’9”: Against All Odds
By Jayson Rodriguez


After garnering critical acclaim as an amateur, Royce Da 5’9” was the favorite to win Rookie Of The Year honors once his debut album officially dropped. Rock City was supposed to catapult him to the ranks of hip-hop’s elite. But it didn’t. Fans couldn’t keep their hands off the unreleased album, like Kobe Bryant couldn’t keep his hands off a certain hotel staffer in Colorado.

Now, after a war of the words with Eminem and D-12, Royce returns with his sophomore effort, Death Is Certain. And just like Bryant is trying to revive his squeaky clean image, the Detroit rapper is trying to revive his underground appeal. Let’s hope he can shoulder the load better than Kobe.

AllHipHop.com: How do you feel about the word underdog or the tag potential always being attached to your name?

Royce Da 5’9”: Well, it comes from being independent from somebody else-You know I had to do a little growing and I parted ways with some people. The underdog is just like the next step. Plus, it was so visible how many people were against me for various reasons, so it was me against the world, really. Me against everybody. Cause I really wasn’t backing down from anybody. That’s what the underdog means.

AllHipHop.com: Do you still feel like you need to fulfill your potential? How would you view yourself in the rap game?

Royce Da 5’9”: I think theirs always room for improvement, because I’m never satisfied. Even in the lines where I come across like real arrogant and real confident. Really, it’s like I’m my own worst critic. I’m always trying to please and really just humble myself, so theirs always room for improvement and fulfilling that potential.

AllHipHop.com: So I’ve heard you’re saying you feel like Nas before he dropped “Ether?” Can you explain that?

Royce Da 5’9”: [Laughs] I really respect Nas as an artist. And I respect his struggle and what he went through. He’s standing for his own beliefs and he stood his ground. I’m sure the phone calls were slow to him, too. That’s what I said on the song. Cause that’s how I was feeling. I quit carrying the 2-way. And I quit carrying the phone-just no communication.

AllHipHop.com: How many people approached you about that “Malcolm X” track?

Royce Da 5’9”: It was a song that just had to happen, man. I didn’t want to do that song. We refrained from doing the song, but people was just saying so much. Y’all didn’t really get it here [New York]. But if you was living in Detroit, then you would’ve have seen how many people decided to get together to go against me. It was just what the hell I was thinking at that time. That’s why it came out so angry.

AllHipHop.com: In that situation, there was a group of people against you, and you were by yourself fighting back. Nas didn’t nearly make as many tracks going at the Roc as they made against him. Was that on your mind?

Royce Da 5’9”: I kind of did it like Nas. It looked like he was starting to get picked on. After “Ether,” it was different; you knew the battle was over. When I did “Malcolm X,” I didn’t feel like I needed to do anything else. Cause it was like that ended everything. It’s like “Ether.” I think like they felt like they got to a pint in their careers where they got their weight up, and I didn’t.
AllHipHop.com: Can you give us an updated status on how your relationship is with Eminem and Proof, or anybody from D-12?

Royce Da 5’9”: Well, My relationship with Em, it isn’t really a relationship. I respect him as an artist. I respect him as a businessman. I want to say we didn’t see eye to eye, but we never got the chance to talk about it. So really, whenever someone asks me, I just that it’s not a relationship, because we don’t speak. As far as Proof, we didn’t see eye to eye on the situation and we resolved it. And that’s where it stops.

AllHipHop.com: Do you think the relationships can be mended? Or you can work together again?

Royce Da 5’9”: I think it’s mended. I wouldn’t close the door on working with anybody.

AllHipHop.com: And what about Dr. Dre?

Royce Da 5’9”: I think there is a mutual respect between us. I’ve never had a problem with Dre.

AllHipHop.com: On your new album, you have the one song like “Bomb First,” where your quoting 2Pac, but you also dismiss rappers who ride on ‘Pac’s coattails.

Royce Da 5’9”: It’s wasn’t really dismissing them. I didn’t even have anybody in particular in mind time. It was just a certain time when rap just felt “‘Pac-ish” to me. And I felt like people started doing it because it was the “in” thing to do. It’s one thing to do it out of admiration, and another to do it just to sell records. I just don’t really agree with it.

AllHipHop.com: Is that what you try to address in your single “Hip-Hop?

Royce Da 5’9”: I’m a strong believer that Royce 5’9’’ has a real good chemistry with Primo. And I think that song was what the underground in hip-hop needs. That type of song, it’s just somebody that doesn’t really care about radio play or nothing. It’s somebody who’s doing it just for the love of doing it. That’s pretty much how my whole album is.

AllHipHop.com: It seems you have a lot of underground love, yet the pedigree of your skills is on par with superstars. You mentioned that you see yourself right behind rappers like Jay-Z, Em and Nas. What do you think about that balance that you strike?

Royce Da 5’9”: I really compare myself to those people you that just named, because, number one, I feel like I’ve already achieved the type of success that you guys know that I’m not lying. That’s what I do. And that’s what those artists do. I think I was put in a situation where as an artist I tried to move too fast. So, really what I’m trying to do with this album is reconnect with the underground audience who think that I went to fast with it. And just really not even do it for the money and the power, but the respect.

AllHipHop.com: When I talk to you now, you seem humble and sincere, but you mentioned in your rhymes that you come off as cocky and arrogant. And you have the one line in your song where you apologize to your fans for trying to go commercial. Do you think it’s [the apology] going to connect with you fans?

Royce Da 5’9”: There’s no such thing as a humble emcee on the mic, you know what I’m saying? You got to come across that way. When you get on that mic, you gotta jump into that territory that you want to control. Everything I said on my album came from the heart. So if people take it the wrong way, I don’t have a problem with that.

AllHipHop.com: I wanted to ask you about the hip-hop summit in Detroit. Do you think that you should have had a role in that?

Royce Da 5’9”: It came at a time where I wasn’t really doing nothing. I had my times in Detroit where I was that deal. Everybody had they couple months, where everybody was talking about you. So it just came at a time where I wasn’t really doing nothing, so I wasn’t really offended by not getting the opportunity.

AllHipHop.com: Do you have any thoughts on the mayor of Detroit? They call him the hip-hop mayor; he’s the young cat and he got the diamond stud in his ear, and all.

Royce Da 5’9”: That’s cause he’s young and black. I’m not really a political person, but it looks like he’s doing his job. I never met, but I never really hear anybody say anything bad about him.

AllHipHop.com: Another Detroit thing, what do feel about Isiah Thomas’ position with the Knicks now?

Royce Da 5’9”: Anything Isaiah do, I stand with. I used to idolize Isiah. I still do, but I don’t got it like I used to. [Laughs]

AllHipHop.com: At the end of 2004, what do expect to have for you?

Royce Da 5’9”: I expect to have a lot of respect. I’ve just really grown up since the Rock City album. The album is crazy. I want to make classic albums. I put the heart and time into it. Hopefully by the end of the year, when they compare somebody new to someone, it will be me.

[Don Seer]

good shit... funnily i'm bumping Royce_the_59-The_Bad_Half-2000-ABC right now

[AlerG]

damn thanks for the interview, props once again, peace.

[I`m Wayne Brady bitch!]

Royce is da man

[Dip Set Movementarian 4 Life]

Yet another album I can't wait for...Royce Jome can you send me that Royce Mic Files album through AIM?

[LyRiCaL_G]

dope interview