Royce Da 5’9 Praises Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole for Staying True to Lyricism
[youtube ytid=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPk-AMmbm-U?autoplay=1&w=580&h=385″ ]
Royce Da 5’9 is temporarily back solo with the impending release of his sixth studio album, Layers. After being told he was “almost too versatile” when he first signed in the late 90’s, Royce explains “This project is basically just me peeling back all of the layers of each personality that I am on each project and giving you everything in one project now that you were able to see it in parts prior to.” In this clip the lyricist also admits being a part of Slaughterhouse and Bad Meets Evil has hindered him from doing more work alone. “That’s pretty much what’s been eating my time as an artist,” he confessed to DJ Vlad.
At one point during the video Royce praises Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole for staying true to their craft despite it not being “cool to be a lyricist” in 2016, according to him. “He sits in that successful emcee space by himself, but he takes that hit. He doesn’t sell the records that Drake sells,” he says of Kendrick after calling him the “exception to every rule in hip-hop right now.” He then moves on to backpack rap, and why though “it’s not where all the hype is at,” he’ll continue to stay in that lane and push out real raps. “That’s why nobody wants to rap against us,” Royce adds about his Slaughterhouse crew. “Cause they know they’d get they a** handed to ’em. Anybody. Anybody, any crew. Anytime.”
Catch Royce Da 5’9 talk about his unreleased music with Eminem, how he’s interacting more with his “core fans” and more up top.
Layers drops April 15.
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