Rock City is the home of the Detroit pistons, Lions and Tigers. Detroit is also home to slim shady himself Eminem. But this is not an Eminem feature so don’t get it twisted. It’s about the self proclaimed “King of Detroit” when it comes to this rap shit. Royce Da 5’9″.
As one half of the now defunct duo Bad Meets Evil Royce made a name for himself throughout the Hip-Hop world on classic cut’s like “Nuttin’ to Do”, “Scary Movies”, “Rock City”, “My Life”, and “Boom.” Now, finally after all the bootlegging of his project Royce is set to drop his revamped Debut disc, entitled Rock City v2.0. About the project Royce says “It’s just me reppin’ the city. The first version of Rock City was bootlegged so bad that we just added some new shit and gave this one an internet feel and that’s where the v 2.0 came from.” Royce has been heralded as the complete MC and the most anticipated artist of 2000 by the Source. Pretty heavy accomplishments for a cat that hasn’t even dropped his first album yet. Royce says, “The magazines just follow what the label says but it’s a good thing for me and it’s also a two way street. I love the Source, that’s my favorite magazine and I say stuff about them too.” Now if you know anything about this music of ours, you’ll know that Rock City was supposed to drop some time ago. “Honestly this album is so old that I just want people to relate to it, but I really want people to know about my next album Dead Or Alive. I think it’s gonna be one of the craziest albums to ever come out of Hip-Hop.” So as the Detroit baller prepares for the release of his debut he tells me his plan for success. “I just wanna be known as somebody who can come with album after album. I wanna be compared to, and be on the same level as Jay, Nas and Em. I’m already being compared to them but I wanna be on their level and that’s what I’m workin’ for.”
So for all you gossiping asses that wanna know about Royce and Em here’s the down low. “It’s like I’ll always have love for Em. He’s done so much for me. When we were doin’ our thing Em already had his deal and we were gonna do the Duo thing. He couldn’t call it Em or Shady so naturally we were gonna call it Bad Meets Evil. So there ain’t no beef. I just feel that he’s not handling personal business correctly. I think he turns his back on people because of ego. I also feel he should have called me on certain issues. It’s killin’ me cause I got love for him. We were boys and right now we ain’t speakin’ like we used to. There’s no beef at all but I do feel like he’s throwin’ a friendship away because of all of this. It’s like he’s got too much, more than he needs, and I think it’s causin’ problems in his life. I feel like that about myself too. If I was rich it’d probably be more than I need right now. I feel that too much money can ruin a relationship. But my spirit is cool life is good and it can always be better or worse but I’m good right now.”
So only time will tell where Royce ends up. Will he become the next hot thing in “Popular” music and maintain his street credibility? Maybe so, and if it’s meant to be Royce promises to handle it with humility and grace. And for those of you that don’t know, those are two of the finest qualities anyone can have in this game. The arrogance is played out fa sho. Royce also expresses an interest in wanting to do films but his music is first. “I listen to the same shit cats on the street listen to. I read the same things they read, so I’m a fan too and I just wanna come across as one of the best that there is out here. I wanna do movies or whatever comes my way but now it’s all about the music.” On November 26th the truth will be told and the streets will speak. Will Royce Da 5’9″ be proclaimed as a street prophet and rap legend? Will Detroit’ coin him as one of there finest? Will he go down in history, as one of the nicest MC’s to ever touch a Mic? Only time will tell, but I tell you this, he’s got about as good a chance as anyone who stays humble, focused and chases their dreams like they’re sleeping.
