“Gun Harmonizing” – Review Of Royce Da 5′9″’s Street Hop
ALBUM REVIEWS By Patrick M. on November 9, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Fact: Royce Da 5’ 9’’ is a hell of a rapper. His mixtapes, guest appearances, and Slaughterhouse verses have provided enough material to spawn legions of Internet stans. Yet, Royce has always had to battle critics who questioned his rather limited profile of full-length albums. With Street Hop, Royce answers his naysayers with a 19 track opus of verbal assassinations and engrossing underground cuts. It’s not so much a coming party as it is an affirmation.
Stylistically, Royce uses the same formula he’s been using for the past decade: multi-syllabic bars with a mix of crazy violence, twisted humor and all around Detroit thuggery. Slaying inferior competition is the primary topic on standout tracks like the Busta Rhymes collabo “Dinner Time.” The two heavyweights take turns beating up the underlying guitar beat with haymaker rhymes. As with the sweet science there’s a beauty to the melodic way Royce murders foes with lines like “Turn him to chicken chowder/dip him in some sniffing powder/season him with gasoline/and throw his ass in the grease.” Royce eschews melody for straight out terror over the haunting choral loop of “Gangsta,” and he sharpens his story-telling chops on the crime chase parable “Murder.”
If you couldn’t tell from the song titles, military and criminology are the main themes of Street Hop. Royce establishes the mood of mayhem on opener “Gun Harmonizing ,” using vocal inflections to create gun sounds on the catchy chorus. He matches the effect with the verbal ammunition of lines like “Every bullet’s a note/I write with a firing pen/every time the trigger pull it’s a quote,”—the combination of skills is MCing at its finest. But no solider can go it alone, and Royce gets plenty of direction from executive producer DJ Premier and his production squad. Obviously, Premo knows a thing or two about street hop, and the consistency and unity of the album show his influence. Plus he contributes one of the best beats on the album, in the jazzy groove of “Shake This,” providing a head-nodding backdrop as Royce battles a new enemy: his own demons. Even better is the party jam “Something 2 Ride 2.” Phonte stops by to croon the chorus, and you can’t help but dream of a future collaboration between the three.
The rest of the production gang such as Denaun Porter, Emile and Nottz provide consistently strong backdrops for Nickel Nine to stay within his comfort zone. There are occasional ventures into faux R&B, but Royce just can’t leave the bully behind on “Thing for Your Girlfriend,” taking more shots at Nick Cannon. These tracks don’t disrupt the rhythm of the album, but Royce clearly is more comfortable flexing his verbal muscles.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of smack talking to go around on bangers like “Mine in Thiz,” where Royce invents his own slang “I’m terrific/I’m the President/I’m Obamarific/Make up my own words/I’m the shittic…” By the time Royce closes out Street Hop with the breezy gangster party “Hood Love,” he’s earned admiration from stans and skeptics alike.
Whether or not Street Hop gains any traction in the mainstream remains to be seen, and if critics want to cite at album sales numbers as a sign of artistic weakness, so be it. In the end, it’s still the music that matters. Many rappers would be happy contributing to just one critically lauded album in a calendar year, but Royce manages to double-up in 2009. With Street Hop, Royce has made his case as one of the top MCs in the game. Stans everywhere rejoice.
Previously Posted — TSS Presents Smoking Sessions With Royce Da 5′9″ | Royce Da 5′9″- “Part Of Me” Video | Royce Da 5′9″ – “Shake This” Video
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, GENERAL — Tags: DJ Premier, Royce Da 5'9, Slaughterhouse, Street Hop
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23 Comments
4 easy.
Better than the more acclaimed collabo album.
4 easy I concur…needs to be backed by a major just so the masses can hear good music. if for that only
Good review. TERRIBLE album cover.
I can’t rate it in Cigs yet, because I’m waiting to go cop some CDs and buy it.
Four sounds about right. Solid album.
An army of buyer fans > legions of Internet stans
so after a second Slaughterhouse LP co-signed by Marshall Mathers ;
a fifth solo Royce album on Shady records will be the crazy ish !
add Bad Meets Evil 2. Yo Eminem, pleaze, make it 4 HH !!
SlaugHterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrHouseeee !!!
one of the best of 2009. 4 cigs+ . good review
Pleasantly surprised by this. Rating is dead-on.
anyone’s rip of this album sound weird??
I thought this one was 4.5 cigs. Definitely one of the best albums this year if not THEEEE best. This one will definitely be tough to beat.
Four sounds about right. Solid album.
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co-sign
Glad to see this reviewed–arguably his most complete album to date.
I love Busta, but he made “Dinner Time” nearly impossible to put on repeat despite one of the fiercest Royce verses I’ve ever heard.
Dope write up, Patrick.
I concur/co-sign the review
The big question to me: is it better than Death Is Certain? Obviously the two albums are very different in theme. Death Is Certain found a more depressed homicidal Royce, whereas Street Hop is more a happily homicidal Royce.
Death Is Certain found a more depressed homicidal Royce, whereas Street Hop is more a happily homicidal Royce.
^
LOL
nice writeup Marmar.
never was a big fan of his after the “Boom” video but this album was dope it cannot be denied. Royce if you reading keep up the good work
Nice write up. I really don’t think the album lives up to the hype. Some of the more RnB’ish sounding tracks seem out of place (except the joint with Phonte). They don’t fit with the “Street Hop” theme so to speak. Really disappointed that Primo only gave him two new tracks (“Shake This” is old)…..Primo gave Blaq Poet 13 tracks for his album…. Plus, I have the CD, but the mix isn’t very great. Seems like too much treble and not enough bass.
Not hatin on the album…just doesn’t seem complete. Death is Certain is still top for me.
i’m going hands down best album of 09… that includes the horribly arranged BP3, the surprisingly tame Relapse, solid Blackout 2, and the few other B-List releases this year worth actually listening to. If for nothing elese its drastically different than all the other garbage rolling out of the industry these days – and deserves respect on that alone. buuut then again, i’m into lyrical & experimental stuff… and you dont hear too much of that these days (btw: techn9ne was a fun listen too)
mmm cld be alrighttt actually
I thought this one was 4.5 cigs. Definitely one of the best albums this year if not THEEEE best. This one will definitely be tough to beat.
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Easily among the best albums of 09. It nearly edges out the Slaughterhouse album for me.
Can’t even compare this to D.I.C. Lyrically, Royce is at the top of his game. As stated, it would have been nice to see Premo contribute more but, this album here proved that without question Royce is possibly the illest MC in the game presently. You add this to his bar exam mixtapes and you have an MC who has been on a rampage. Seriously, I don’t think there is a better MC right now.
Yeah anyone else have the actual CD? I downloaded ’shake this’ off of amazon and it sounds great and then when the CD came out it sounds like theres way too much treble definitely. I thought I had a bad version of it so I bought another elsewhere and yeah it’s still the same… it’s weird cause if you download the songs individually off amazon they sound great. Anyone else notice this?
The CD is great but like that guy said above, there is too much treble or somethin on the actual CD. I even thought I had a bad version of the Cd so I bougth another elsewhere and it still sounds weird. It’s real annoyin actually cause when you download the songs individually off amazon they sound great. Anyone else have this prob?