***New Royce/Willa Ford News from CDNOW HERE! Peep it.
***Yo, a new article bout royce is in tha new SOURCE so i typed it up:
While working his 13 dates in two weeks on a nelly-headlined college tour this spring, Royce was also preparing himself for the big timewith the upcoming release of his much delayed album, Rock City. Known as one of the underground's top MCs, the Detroit native's affilliation with Slim Shady (Eminem executive produced Royce's LP) makes his debut that much more anticipated. Once released from Tommy Boy Records, Royce signed to Columbia through Game Recordings, which put out his explosive DJ Premier-produced single, "Boom." But label beefs ain't the only thing in the way of his happiness in the business. Chat-room haters and speculation surrounding his relationship with Em can be a bit annoying too.
The Source:What happened with your deal on Tommy Boy Records?
Royce Da 5'9":I didn't get dropped, contrary to the belief of some muthafuckas. I got this one hating muthafucka on one of my websites. In the chatroom everybody be like,"Royce is dope, Royce is dope." But this one nigga gotta be like,"Royce is whack. Y'all need to stop sucking his dick. Every label keep dropping him. First it was Tommy Boy, then it was Game dropped him, now Columbia just dropped him." That's fucking crazy! With Tommy Boy, it was a situation where I think they spent so much money, they might not have been satisfied with the product. I think they wanted to keep me around for developing purposes or something. That's when we were like, "Nah, just let us go." We didn't see eye-to-eye creatively. They were on some Eminem and Dre shit anyway. I'm Royce. Them niggas got thier agendas and i got mine. We begged for a release and got it.
The SOURCE:How did you make the jump from Tommy Boy to Game/Columbia?
Royce Da 5'9":I fick with Game 'cause they put them singles out before I signed to Tommy Boy. "Bad Meets Evil," the shit with me and Slim, and "I'm The King."
The SOURCE:How long have you and Eminem been working together? I heard you guys were cool ever since when he was just another MC with a demo.
Royce Da 5'9":I was opening for Usher in like 1998 in DetroitEm was selling his tapes, his local EP, at the show. My manager, Kino, introduced us. We obviously knew who eachother was. We said we should do something, so the next weekend we did "Bad Meets Evil," the first version of it.
The SOURCE: There was talk of some drama between you and Eminem, is that over now?
Royce Da 5'9": The funny thing is, I don't even know where that came from. Because with me and Em, nothing ever went down. Ever. The only thing that happened between us was a lot of time went by without us talking 'cause he got real big, real fast. While he got big, I had to come off the road being his hype man and start on my record. I think people took that as, "okay, we don't see Em and Royce together anymore. They must've fell out." I can even go as far as saying that we frew apart for a minute but never on bad terms. We just sit back and laugh at the shit. Me and Em was in the studio last night [and did] a song.
The SOURCE:You have any other collaborations in store? Give us somebody we wouldn't expect.
Royce Da 5'9": I'm Going to collaborate with Beyonce. It's a song about my 3-year-old son called "Life." "My flights are early in the morning, and when he wakse up and don't see me there, he's like, "This nigga ain't fittin' to be back for a minute." He throws a fit. I had to do a song about him. Trackmasters replayed the beat. "Boom" is going to be the first singlr off the Carmen soundtrack, the MTV [Hip Hopera]. I don't know what the first single for my album is going to be.
The SOURCE: Who do look to for advice on singles and the business in general? Who has given you the best advice so far?
Royce Da 5'9": I think it has got to be [Dr.] Dre. I put it in a song as soon he told me, "Just as hard as you work to get it, it's people working harder to take it from you." It's a lot of muthafuckas who nature is just to fucking hate you...like, the one nigga on my website-for no reason. I ain't sold one copy yet abd you hate me already. Wait till I get to Jay-Z status, then hate me. ***New MTV interview:
Royce Da 5'9" knows about doing it himself. After leaving Tommy Boy Records last year, the Detroit rapper independently released "Boom," his collaboration with DJ Premier, and the song became an instant underground hit. Fortunately for Royce, the record bubbled above surface as well. It caught the attention of Columbia Records and they decided to sign Royce, who's made a name for himself on the underground circuit with solo efforts like "Secret Wars" and his many collaborations with good friend Eminem, like "Bad VS Evil." Now the MC is putting the finishing touches on his debut album, Rock City, due July 17. "That's what they call Detroit," Royce said. Fellow Motor City rapper Eminem appears on the title track, which Royce describes as having the same hometown pride vibe as Foxy Brown's "BK Anthem." "It's like a real Detroit-felt album," he said. Royce said Slim Shady's appearance on the album should clear up the rumors of any friction between the two old chums. "The relationship is the same," Royce said. "The reason people don't see us together no more is, one we're on two different labels. Two his sh-- just exploded overnight. The reason you used to see me and him together so much was because I was his hype man. I used to tour with him, but once I signed my deal, I couldn't go on tour with him. I started recording my album." In addition to Eminem, Royce's clique Detroit native sons D-Elite will also appear on the album, as will Chicago's Twista. Producers the Neptunes, the Alchemist, Premier, Ty Fyfe and Carlos Broady have all laid tracks. "It's going to be a mixture of a lot of different stuff," Royce said. "I'm going to take a lot of people by surprise. I got the songs for the MCs, the songs for the ladies. 'Danger' is strictly to women. 'Get Your Paper' is a real club song. I got a song called 'Pain' where I'm rhyming like I'm actually in pain. If pain was a person, what would pain say? I'm trying to do a classic album with songs that people will remember and don't just die down real quick." As for "Boom," Royce said the cut will be re-serviced this time with a chorus as the lead single to the Carmen Jones soundtrack. The 23-year-old has been testing out some of his material on the current Nelly tour. Royce was recently added to 13 dates on the outing, which includes Sticky Fingaz and Alley Life. And how did he get his moniker? "I ain't the type of person who's real creative with names," said Royce, born Ryan Montgomery. "When I was in high school, my first chain was a Turkish link with a big 'R' on it. My friend started calling me 'Royce' because he said it looked like the Rolls Royce 'R'. '5'9"' comes from when I was on the basketball team. Me and my man was the only people who was 5'9" all four years." He hasn't grown an inch since.
***Yo, word around tha street is that the royce album will be called "Rock City"
***Yo, tha royce album finally got an official(?) release date: July 17th!
***Ayo, there's finally a royce album available, don't get excited it ain't tha new album, it's called "Tha Best of Royce Vol.1"
***Yo, there's a new Royce article in XXL: SHOW & PROVE-ROYCE DA 5'9" INSTINCTIVE TRAVELS He's written songs for West Coast production God Dr. Dre; has been toasted by music scribes and fans as the biggest Detroit rhyme export since that belligerent white boy and hasn't even wrapped up recording sessions for his debut album. But things aren't all good for Royce Da 5'9" whose drive has slowed after being stung by scrutiny, in a Similac stage of his career, during his brief stay at Tommy Boy Records. They [Tommy Boy] were like, "Oh, he's working with Dre, he's that, he's this, let's give him a trillion dollars!" remembers an immersed Royce, FROM HIS Motor City home. "I guess they figured, 'Why is Royce not turning in any hits?' But all they did was took my leash off and throw me to the dogs." Lack of artistic cultivation at Tommy Boy prompted Royce to break away from his super indie imprint late last year after months of legal haggling. Now signed to New York's Game recordings, Royce—who was first unveiled to the public in '99 going line for line with extended family member Eminem on the underground lyrical assault "Scary Movies"—has clearly swallowed the bitter taste of music industry politics, as event by his unofficial first single, the swinging, string-laden DJ Premier-directed cut "Boom." With no shortage of verse-of-the-year lines (I'm the next best to reach a peak formally known as the best kept secret/I guess that I just leaked it," he declares with supreme cockiness), Royce is so far delivering on the hype. "Back when I first signed my Tommy Boy deal that was the major thing: Work with Dr. Dre and work with Premo," remembers Royce, who penned "The Message" from the multi-platinum epic Dr. Dre 2001. "I mad the right decisions financially just as far as what to be part of and the type of people I was around. Now I'm real focused on raising my notoriety. Chief among his priorities is finding distribution for his full-length release, which tentatively will be executive produced by Marshall Mathers. At press time, the buzz propelled MC was involved in negotiations with Interscope Records. "I think after my album comes out, it's going to give people more of a vibe that me and Em are like Red and Meth," Royce claims before quickly clarifying, "It won't be so much like he's "Eminem" putting me out, but I'm holding my own." —MURPH
***Yo, Royce just had a recent inteview check it out Here! It's got info on the album!
***Royce Got Some New Joints-"Boom", "Let's Grow", "Knuckle Up"-Featuring Hush, & "The One", Get Some Of 'Em Here!
***Royce's Record Label "Game" Has Been Taken Over By Rawkus Which Means Good Things For His Album & Bad Meets Evil's Album!
***Royce has a freestyle on DJ Butler's newest record, "Kill The DJ", album also has plenty of other tight joints by eminem and his crew, The Dirty Dozen.
