S. Samuel
Slaughterhouse's Royce Da 5'9 recently opened up about the state of hip-hop and how projects like his Hell: The Sequel plus Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Thone albums are forcing rappers to display higher levels of lyricism.
Royce feels hip-hop is finally taking a turn back to the essence of emceeing.
“[Jay and Kanye] wanted to go in and make an album; that’s what they did. [Me and Eminem] wanted to go in and just be lyrical and box, go back and forth, and we not thinking about making an album. I think the fact that both of those projects are out and they are doing well, it’s great for hip-hop because both of them are lyrical projects, and [there] was one time in hip-hop when it wasn’t really cool to be lyrical,” Royce said in an interview. “So you got these big guns going in and showing these kids of today that it’s cool to be lyrical.” (MTV)
Last March, rap veteran Kool G Rap said he felt unfazed by the imbalance of lyrical content in today’s hip-hop.
“It really don’t bother me because not everybody is capable of being a G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, or KRS-One,” Kool G said when asked about today’s lack of wordplay. “That says a person is gifted. These are not any rappers you see on TV, rocking somejewelry, and see all the girls chasing them. Now you see kids like, ‘Yo. I wanna do the same thing because I want all those things.’ A Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and G Rap kind of talent isn’t just going to shoot up your body, and then instantly you become that talented artist. That’s why it doesn’t matter because some of these artists are just doing what they can do. They doing all that they can do. So then, that’s when they make their swag stand out, and make swag a big thing. I mean swag was always a part of hip-hop, it’s just we didn’t call it swagger. We just used to say that someone was talented or had a lot of charisma. They just titled the sh*t ‘swagger’ now.” (BallerStatus)
In late December, rap rookie Waka Flocka Flame admitted lyricism was not his strongest point.
“I don’t feel like I’m no lyricist. I’m not in the booth trying to godd*mn rap big words,” Flocka explained in an interview. “I’m not tryin’ to show off my intelligence. Anybody could memorize big words, put ’em together. I could do that. But if I don’t use the words on an everyday basis, why use the words in my rap? I just like music. I’m a lover of making music. It could be a big record, small record–as long as I’m making songs. One day it’ll pop; that’s how I look at it. Yeah. What I did in one year–one year–a lot of people accomplish in 10 years. A lot of people don’t like that. They feel I don’t deserve what I got. I’m a hard-a** worker. And I’m here for a reason. This sh*t ain’t luck. I don’t believe in luck.” (RESPECT)
While Watch the Throne is projected to reach gold status in its opening week, Royce’s Hell: The Sequel joint EP has sold just over 400,00 copies to date.
Bad Meets Evil’s Hell: The Sequel fell four positions to No. 14 with 24,200. With two months in the books, the duo’s new album has shelled out 420,200 records. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Check out some Royce Da 5’9 footage below:
