Words by Jesse H.

Growth & Patience. These are the two themes that Trackstar the DJ selected to title his Royce Da 5’9” compilation. Appropriate choices as well, as these are two themes that an MC in Royce’s shoes must have to survive in this industry. The man has been through his fair share of industry politics: highly publicized drama, a jail bid, and on top of all that, the struggle to maintain relevancy in the most fickle of environments. 11 years active without a certified breakout album might kill most careers, but as I sit down with Royce to start our interview, the man sits, calm and composed, a modest pair of sunglasses shading his eyes.

Throughout the interview, he balances his chin on his hand. He replies pensively and thoughtfully, measuring his words, meticulously careful not to say something inflammatory (unlike some of his Slaughterhouse brethren). Even when probed about his rocky past with Eminem, Royce makes nary a grimace or a scowl. His calm and cautious demeanor hints that this is a new Royce, one who seems to be taking a different, wiser approach toward making it in the game. With Slaughterhouse’s album garnering critical praise and a forthcoming solo project, titled Street Hop, it looks like Royce is moving in a positive direction.

Growth & Patience.

royce_1

TSS: First things first, I know you’ve probably been through this a thousand times in the past 24 hours (the interview took place the day after rumors broke about Slaughterhouse signing to Shady records), but it’s not like I can sit here and not act like I’m curious. What’s the deal with the Slaughterhouse and Shady records?

Royce Da 5’9″: Well, it’s at a point right now where it’s not anything to talk about right now. It’s not anything to go to press and say. It’s a situation that I hope can happen. It would be great if that could happen. A lot of conversations are being had, a lot of positive conversations. But we’ve got a lot of interest from a lot of labels, you know? We’re in a great position right now. I don’t want to keep singling out Shady, even though I would love for that to happen, especially because of my very strong relationship with Eminem and Paul Rosenberg. That would feel like home for me.

TSS: So you’ve been the most instrumental of the group in reaching out to Shady, because of your relationship with Eminem?

Royce Da 5’9″: You know what? It’s not a lot of me reaching out to them on behalf of the group. It’s a lot of me reaching out to [Shady] on behalf of our relationship and them reaching out to me because of our relationship. But when the thing happened with us being in the “Forever” video, that happened because they happened to be in town with me and they told me they were shooting a video and they asked me to come through. So I said “aiight, I’mma come through, I’mma bring the guys.” But, other than that, everything else is just hypothetical. It’s a great hypothetical possibility, but I can’t sit here and tell you “yo man, there’s gonna be a contract tomorrow.” It’s just something that I would love to see happen.

TSS: All right, fair enough. You mentioned your relationship with Eminem, you say it’s good right now, but there was some turmoil in the past. Can you give a summation of your history for those who are uninformed?

Royce Da 5’9″: Of what me and Em went through in the past? Man, I don’t even… Do I have to talk about that?

TSS: I mean, you’re not required to or anything…

Royce Da 5’9″: That’s just… I’m tired of talking about that. I don’t even want to be reminded about that time, you know what I’m saying? So many mistakes were made. It would be hard for me to tell you verbatim what happened, because so many little things happened. It’s like, I don’t even want to think about trying to rack my brain and think about… Have you ever had a situation where so many things take place that you don’t really know what happened anymore? So many things transpired that I’d rather not touch on that.

TSS: Fair enough. Let’s get into your relationship with Premo then. He’s obviously going to be a factor on your new record Street Hop. Can you describe the chemistry you have with DJ Premier? How did that relationship get built and why do you feel the two of you work so well together?

Royce Da 5’9″: Well, me and Prem have a great chemistry outside of making music. He’s like a big brother to me. I think it starts there with us. He has his way of making records and I have my way of making records, and we combine them very easily.

TSS: They mesh up really well.

Royce Da 5’9″: They mesh up really well because he likes to make skeletons, and you have to have the kind of ear that can hear what the beat will sound like after the vocals are added. He also has the gift to go back and add on to your idea, add on to what you had and make it sound better than how you had it. So it’s a step-by-step process, it’s an assembly line with us. We just both keep coming back behind each other and adding on. That’s why I think our records together come out sounding so in pocket, and so clean. We both sonically want the same thing.

TSS: How did you two meet?

Royce Da 5’9″: Damn, I don’t even know man, it was so long ago. How did me and Prem meet? I want to say that it was… Well, the very first song that I ever did with Prem was a song called “My Friend.” But I kind of remember telling him the concept over the phone before I got in the studio with him. So I want to say that I met him over the phone first. When I flew out to New York for him to do the beat, I was signed to Tommy Boy, this is like ’99. So, I went out there to record and we met in the session. I think that’s how we met. But you ever known somebody so long that it’s like “how the hell did we meet?”

TSS: No doubt. We were talking about this a little earlier, but how does it feel to be a Detroit MC right now? You mentioned that people were wilding out even before the recession. Do you feel added pressure coming from Detroit since the city is facing a lot of problems?

Royce Da 5’9″: I think there’s a lot of things that I can’t control. Like the economy. I can’t control the economy, I’m not in a financial situation to do anything to stimulate the economy.

TSS: I mean more in a sense of the people, the fans. I mean, Detroit fans, they’re some of the most geographically loyal fans in Hip-Hop. They rally around their artists.

Royce Da 5’9″: I definitely have always felt a responsibility creatively. I’ve accepted that I’m one of the leaders of Detroit, and I know that a lot of my actions reflect on my city. I make a lot of my decisions based off of that. I use my role to help mentor other artists and other people in the city. We all one team, one alliance, and I was instrumental in forming that alliance. So I think all of us: myself, Trick Trick, Hex Murder, House Shoes, Marv One, Guilty Simpson, Juan, eLZhi, T3, Slum Village, Obie Trice, D12, I think all of us feel the same pressure. We get looked at as the leaders so we need to step up and make the right decisions, because when people see us, they see Detroit.

TSS: What are some of the factors that make the Detroit Hip-Hop scene such a tight-knit community?

Royce Da 5’9″: Well, the Hip-Hop community, we went through so much. Arguing with each other, bickering with each other until we realized we wouldn’t get anywhere like that. There’s more strength in numbers. And we went through tragedy- we lost Proof, we lost Dilla, we suffered losses. So if a great loss like that doesn’t open your eyes, you’ll never get it. Since we’ve decided to be unified, we gained a lot more ground. People are making more money, gaining more notoriety, it’s a better look.

TSS: Moving on, let’s talk about DJ Trackstar’s Growth and Patience, which you hosted. How do you see the themes of growth and patience fitting with your career?

Royce Da 5’9″: Well, I think I’m living proof of what growth and patience will get you. Somebody my age, in my position, who’s been in the game as long as I have, might feel like they should be on their way out of the game. Like whatever I accumulated over these ten years, I should accept it and move on to something else. But, I’m actually feeling like I’m on my way back into the game. That’s a blessing. That comes from being patient and growing. Not only as an artist, because there’s a lot of people who may grow as an artist but there’s decisions they make as a man that hold them back.

TSS: What grants you patience when you see some of your peers, especially some of the younger, less-accomplished artists acting like they’re already moving on? I mean, you see these retirement announcements from cats who haven’t dropped an album, two, three years in the game. And yet, you’re eleven years deep and still feel like you’re coming up in the game…

Royce Da 5’9″: A lot of artists have made that comment, that they want to retire. It’s just something that gets said. It’s like someone saying “I’mma kill you.” Might not necessarily mean that you’re going to really kill them, it’s just how you feel at that moment. I think that the Internet is such an engine to get these points out, and once people say things, it’s forever encapsulated in time, and people are going to hold you to that. So a lot of artists feel like that. There’s nothing wrong with getting frustrated. But if you can bounce back from it, that’s having a level of patience, it’s another form of it. Some people complain, some people don’t complain, but at the end of the day, if two individuals can finish the same job, I call that two patient individuals.

TSS: You mentioned the Internet, when you’re dealing with your career, do you treat your statements more carefully in this age because you feel like they can get twisted around and pinned back on you in a way you didn’t intend?

Royce Da 5’9″: I’m very cautious. I’m very cautious with whatever I speak on. Because people can take your words and twist them. Or people can just take your words and get what they want out of them. It makes sense to really be careful with what you say, especially if your words are powerful. If you know your words are going to be smeared around all the websites, you’d better watch what you say.

TSS: Do you see positives to the Internet too?

Royce Da 5’9″: I see more positives to it, as long as you know how to handle it as an artist. It’s a great promotional tool. It’s the new streets. This game is based off perception now. You can get people to perceive you how you want to be perceived based off of how you carry yourself. But there can be sides to you that you don’t have to show. Like I could be a cold-blooded murderer, but if I don’t want to show that, I don’t have to show that.

The Internet is a gateway for you to portray what you want though. A lot of dudes are soft, but they use the Internet in a manner to portray themselves as hard. There are people that believe, if they do that the right way, and I even call that a positive if it’s going to sell that man some records. It’s a blow to the real niggas, but if that’s going to sell that man some records, that’s a positive thing.

TSS: How do you handle your Internet persona?

Royce Da 5’9″: I just be myself.

TSS: So you don’t withhold sides of your personality?

Royce Da 5’9″: Hmm, well yeah. I try to withhold a lot of the negative things. I try to sway away from the negativity now. I try to treat doing interviews and marketing as a job. There’s no need for me to get emotional and bring all those emotions into the boardroom, because that’s not how someone who was working for a major corporation would work.

TSS: Do you feel like all of your Slaughterhouse comrades share that sentiment with you?

Royce Da 5’9″: I think so. I think that even the ones who maybe didn’t get it before, they’re starting to get it now. It’s a growing process. It’s easy to maintain positive if you’ve got people around you who can influence you in a positive way.

TSS: Is that something you talked about as a group?

Royce Da 5’9″: We talk about everything as a group. We talk about mistakes that have been made, because we’re four people who have been through a lot, and that have made a lot of mistakes. You’re also dealing with four people who see what good things can come if you make better decisions.