MY INTERVIEW WITH ROYCE DA 5’9

WORDS BY KHALID STRICKLAND a.k.a. BLACK PACINO

Detroit’s own Royce Da 5’9 has not only mastered the art of emceeing, he has also become proficient in the fine art of multi-tasking.  While his latest digital EP, The Revival, circulated the internet, Royce dropped his latest album, Street Hop,  in September. DJ Premier helmed Street Hop as executive producer, a merger with plenty of upside.  And on the subject of monster collaborations, Royce is also a member of the four-man super-group, Slaughterhouse, along with his once-foe Joe Budden, Crooked I and Joell Ortiz.  On paper, the lineup reads like a Hip-Hop Murderer’s Row and the skilled quartet’s album was released to stellar reviews.  The group toured vigorously to support their cause.

Royce  Nickel-Nine juggled each project with the dexterity and confidence that accompanies his wordplay.  In addition to the grind, he also had an interview with me on his to-do list. This interview actually took place last year, right before Slaughterhouse released their album.  Much of this interview was published in the current issue of Rap Fanatic Magazine… the same one that highlights The Spizzy. If you haven’t copped it already you should, because it features Maino, Jadakiss, Busta, Havoc and many other notables.

But Royce and Slaughterhouse are hot on the streets right now and I’m a capitalist.  So I’ve posted the entire interview right here for The Spizzy Familia.  You can tell it was in another publication because the profanity is edited out.

Head south of the border and peep my exciting chat with the one and only Royce Nickel-Nine.

Black Pacino: What is Street Hop going to add to your catalog?

Royce Da 5’9: In my personal opinion it’s going to add a classic album to my resume.  I think I have yet to create a classic record.  Death Is Certain is close, a lot of people see it as a classic album but I want it to be undeniable across the board, man.  I want an XXL (rating) in XXL, I want 5 mics in The Source… I want all that sh*t, man.  I’m not even going for sales; I’m really going for critical acclaim.  And I think I’ve got that.  If I don’t get that, it’s not going to be far from my mind ‘cause I know I can definitely bang it out the next time.  That’s what I’m shooting for, that’s one of my goals for my career.

Pacino: How did the connection with DJ Premier as executive producer come about? That’s a really good look.

Royce: It just boils down to me asking if he was interested in doing it.  It just so happens he was very interested in doing it.  It was that simple, me being like, “Yo, Preme.  Can you do this?” And he was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Pacino: You’ve had a solid solo career.  Do you feel you’ve gotten the appreciation and recognition you deserve as an artist?

Royce: I’m appreciative for the appreciation and recognition that I have but I feel there’s a lot more people out there that I need to reach.  For real, I get a lot of respect and love from my peers… motherf*****s that do what I do because they know what it takes to do what I do.  They understand the techniques and they just be going into the sh*t that I do.  The average listener is not listening for the mechanics and techniques, they’re just  listening for the record.  So there’s people that I still need to touch but I definitely feel appreciated, I feel recognized.  As long as I can talk to solid brothers like yourself that’s like, “Yo, I appreciate what you do.”  I hear that a lot.  I’m appreciative of that.

Pacino: Being that you’re highly-skilled, do you get challenges to battle from emcees when you’re just hanging out?  If so, do you ever go at them to keep your blades sharp?

Royce: You know what? It’s happened to me a few times but that doesn’t happen to me much.  Canibus is who I feel sorry for.  Ni**a was so ferocious with that sh*t, man.  I’m sure on an average day he got approached by so many people.  ‘Cause I remember at one point it was like, if you can kill Canibus in a battle (you’re great).  I feel I do a lot of different kinds of records.  So I’m not good with the off-the-top of the head, on-the-spot battle.  I write records.  I consider myself more of a writer than a battler.  I don’t make people so much look at me as a battler, even though I am pretty battle-tested.  But I don’t really think they look at me like that one-hundred percent.    But it’s happened a couple of times and I never take the challenge… I don’t want no problems.

Pacino: You’re really good that’s why I thought some people may try to come at you.

Royce: My thing is writing.  If you write a battle rap to me, I might just respond no matter who you are ‘cause I will do this.  In terms of standing there with a mic and talking about what a ni**a’s wearing and all that? I don’t do that.  That’s not what I’m good at.  Motherf*****s who do that, it’s possible.  But that’s not my talent.

Pacino: You’ve got a lot going on.  You’re in Slaughterhouse, you’ve got your solo album dropping, and you’re touring and doing interviews.    You probably don’t sleep.  What keeps you going and pepped up to do all of this?

Royce: Plenty of mornings I wake up and say, “Man, I don’t have the energy to get out the bed today.”  I got this sh*t going on, I got this problem.  I’m stressed out about stuff just like the next man.  But somehow, some way, I can find the one good thing in my day to look forward to. As long as I can find that one good thing, it’s not as bad a ni**a thinks.  I just try to stay positive with my thinking and not let my thoughts get the best of me.

Pacino: At what point in your life to you make the decision to go all in as a rapper and make it your career?

Royce: When I got the call from Eminem saying Dre wanted to talk to me and wanted to bring me out there.  I said, “You know what? I think I’m gonna do this for a living” (laughs).  ‘Cause at that moment I was not doing anything.  Just sitting around, going to the studio.  I was tenacious with the studio ‘cause I love recording but I never thought about it like I’mma do this as a career.  I wasn’t thinking about much.  I f**ked around with college a little bit, I wasn’t serious about that.  I wasn’t doing sh*t, just caught up in a bunch of different things.  My true love at that moment was basketball.  You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t going to go to the league at that age.  Once I decided I was gonna go hard with the rap sh*t, I left basketball alone and you can probably beat me in a one-on-one right now (laughs).  Once I left that sh*t alone it was a wrap.

Pacino: Speaking of Eminem, what’s your relationship with him like these days?

Royce: We’re good, man.  We don’t talk as much but last time we talked we had two very, very good conversations; two hour-or-so long conversations.  But with those two conversations I can honestly say that our relationship is tight, you feel me?  But he’s definitely doing his thing and I’m doing my thing.  That’s what it is.

Pacino: A lot of artists don’t work with one executive producer guiding their projects anymore, even though the results can be great.  Do you like working that way and is it something you’d do more of?

Royce: Yeah.  You’ve got to at least have one other opinion, because what I find is when you’re doing your own sh*t , you kind of get biased a little bit.  It’s your own sh*t.  When I make a record I might love the record for one week.  I’ll run it by my friend Kino or my friend Billy and he’ll be like, “Eh, it’s cool.”  If he says the record is just cool then that record is automatically under the microscope.  It’s like, “Damn.  I’m glad I ran it by somebody.”    ‘Cause leave it up to me that sh*t’s gone… it’s going right out (laughs).  Especially when you bring somebody to the table that actually makes records and their job is to do that, it’s a good thing, man.  Two heads are better than one so that’s definitely a formula of mine.  My next album, I’m doing it with Denaun Porter; the whole sh*t because we’ve been seeing eye-to-eye.  That ni**a’s a f**kin’ monster.  I’m going down his path.  I dig what he’s doing creatively… speaking to him, hearing what he’s got, and his creative vision for Hip-Hop on a whole.  Me and this ni**a is seeing eye-to-eye.  So we’re definitely going to create some sh*t.

Pacino: I’ve got some Slaughterhouse questions for you.  Whose idea was it to come up with a super-group?

Royce: It was this dude named Jesus Christ.  Ever heard of him? (laughs)

Pacino: (Laughs) Yeah, I think I’ve heard of that guy.

Royce: Yeah, he’s kind of popular… next to Michael Jackson (laughs).

Pacino: How did you decide on what emcees would make up Slaughterhouse?

Royce: This is kind of how it happened.  Joey reached out to everybody.  He picked the emcees for a song called “Slaughterhouse” that we actually did.  He reached out to all the emcees and I don’t know what made him reach out to those particular people, but he did it.  So he said to me, “I need this verse for this song and I need it in 24 hours.”  I was actually at the hospital; my wife was going into labor with my daughter.  I was like, “Damn, Joey.  I don’t know if I can do it…. I got this sh*t going on.”  He was like, “Man, I understand but please, if you can find any way to do it I’d really appreciate it.”  I was like, “Sh*t, man.  Who’s gonna be on the song?”   He said Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, me and Nino Bless.  I was like, “Damn.  That sounds like a slaughterhouse.”  He was like, “Yeah.  Sh*t, I might call the song that.”  So I was like, “All right, I’mma figure out a way to make it happen.”  He appreciated it.  So I hung up the phone.  My daughter was already out of the womb; she had just came out.  So I was like, “You know what? I’mma shoot to the studio real quick.” I banged it out in like 30 or 40 minutes and came right back.”  It ain’t really take me no time, but once the sh*t hit the net it sent ‘em into a frenzy.

Joey called me back a couple of days later like, “Yo.  Did you see the reaction to the song?” I was like, “Hell yeah, I seen the reaction to the song.  I ain’t livin’ under no rock.”  He was like, “We need to do some more songs.”  I was like, “Sh*t, man.  Why don’t me and you just do a group together?” Because at that time, me and Joey was just coming out of having problems with each other, you know what I’m sayin’? Kino was on the line with us and Joey and he said, “Why don’t all four of ya’all do a group?”  The sh*t sounded so far-fetched to me, my ni**a.  I was like, “Man, there ain’t no way that’s gonna work.  Four or five ni**as in a group? Four or five thorough ni**as in a group? I was like, “Yeah, whatever.”  But Joey was like, “I’d be down.” I said, “Shoot, I’d be down too if it’s realistic.”  A couple of meetings later, a couple of songs later, the sh*t just took off.  So it wasn’t really nobody’s idea, per se.  Everybody was instrumental in sh*t forming, but it was just God’s work, though.

Pacino: Joe Budden had a line on a recent track where he basically said “Royce told me to chill” in regards to the conflict he had with Method Man and Busta Rhymes.  Is that true and if so, what is your take on that situation?

Royce: I’ll tell you like I told Joey, you know what I’m sayin’? My take is only this… I’m not going to agree with everything Joey says but I’m going to ride with him no matter what.  So if I disagree with something he say, just like any of my other brothers, I’ll call him and say, “Look, man.  I wasn’t even feelin’ that.”  We all say things and be like, “Damn.  Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”  Joey’s personality is just so… he’s got such a strong personality, he’s outspoken, he’s going to say how he feels.  That’s just him, you can’t stop him from being him, you know? But I’m not going to agree with everything.  Me and you might talk for two hours and I might disagree with something you got to say.  It just is what it is.  It just so happened that if I say something to Joey, he’s a very smart dude.  So if I say to him, like “I ain’t really feelin’ what you said,” if I can get him to look at it another way, he listens.  He’s not a bull-headed ni**a like everybody says.  He actually listens to people.  When we sat down with Busta and Raekwon he told everybody, “Yo, the sh*t that I said about Meth was classless and I apologize.”  As long as a man can be a man like that you can’t ever fault him.  They shook hands and that’s that, it’s a wrap.

Pacino: Who’s the funniest member of Slaughterhouse?

Royce: It’s a toss-up between Ortiz and Joey.  Them ni**as is f**kin’ funny.  Them ni**as will have you crackin’ up.  You can’t hang with them ni**as without crackin’ up; they’re just some naturally funny ni**as.  Ortiz is a funny dude, man.  A lot of people don’t know that.  Once he get to crackin’ on somebody it’s gonna make you laugh.  Once they get together it’s even intensified.  They get to talking about each other and doing that sh*t that they do and it’s natural.  Me and Crooked be sittin’ back like, “Man, these ni**as is f**kin’ hilarious” (laughs).  They definitely bring that dynamic to the group.  They’re some interesting ni**as to watch.

Pacino: Which member of the group has the shortest temper?

I don’t know yet.  I ain’t seen everybody mad yet.  This ni**a Crooked, man.  Crooked is so mysterious.  He’s so laid back… I don’t think he’s got a short temper, though.  For some reason, people don’t really test Crooked ‘cause he knows how to talk to people; he’s real good at talking to people.  Joey got thick skin so I can’t say Joey.  Ortiz… nah… it’s probably me.  I’ve probably got the shortest temper.