Royce Revealed - by Lori Lane
Royce da 5’9 or ‘Royce’ as he is referred to (please don’t call him ‘Royceda’) played to a wildly enthusiastic crowd on the evening of Saturday 7th July at London’s infamous Jazz Cafe, engaging the crowd with his infectious personality and entertaining them with content from those five albums he has already stashed neatly under his belt and that was before we even got to his two most recent projects involving a certain Mr Mathers: ‘Bad meets Evil’ and Slaughterhouse.
I managed to catch up with Royce in person after the show where I got to take a brief look into his world:
LL: Hi Royce, it’s a pleasure to meet you. So tell me are you over here as part of a European tour at the moment?
Royce: I am actually in Europe for just 3 shows. I was in Switzerland last night, London tonight and am off to Copenhagen tomorrow.
LL: I see - why only three dates and why those places?
Royce: Well I was in Switzerland for the Open Air Frauenfeld Festival (which also featured hip hop artists Drake, 50 Cent & Rick Ross) and am going to Copenhagen for the Roskilde Festival (featuring artists including Yelawolf & Wiz Khalifa.) I’m very glad to be a part of them as open air festivals are always a big deal for hip hop. Then I thought I may as w,ell take advantage of the situation and come to my favourite place which is London. I love London. I like Nando’s…
LL: Yes!! Nando’s is the best…
Royce: I’m glad we agree on something (laughs)
LL: How hot do you have your chicken?
Royce: Hot! All the way Hot!!
LL: So tell me about the difference between the festival crowd in Switzerland and tonight’s crowd?
Royce: There’s a little bit of a difference because yesterday was like a crowd I had to win over a bit, tonight was more about people who came just to see me. You know at festivals there are so many fantastic artists there, people are just there to see real hip hop. There might be a few people out there that have never heard of you that you have got to win over and that’s always fun to do. I love that challenge.
LL: You said tonight during the show that you like playing the intimate venues, but I would have thought as a rapper you would prefer to reach more people at the bigger venues?
Royce: There are pros and cons to everything. I love the big crowds. It does something to me mentally. It makes me feel accomplished. It makes me feel like my music is reaching a large number of people. Then there are the small intimate venues where I am able to converse more freely you know? I feel free to speak and answer certain questions, which you can’t really do at large venues.
LL: No doubt. Having watched and thoroughly enjoying your show tonight, I felt the crowd definitely got a real sense of your personality is that a conscious effort?
Royce: With a small crowd like that, I am just myself and try to have as much fun as possible. This whole rap thing that I am doing right now, it is only going to happen one time and I want to have as much fun as possible. I also want to try and be the best father possible and the best husband possible for whatever that is worth…
LL: That is definitely worth a lot. Now your most recent album “Success is Certain” was released in 2011, was part of the trip over here to promote that album?
Royce: I’m pushing it as much as I can, obviously I am only one person and there is only so much pushing I can do with everything. I have never been much of a multi-tasker and being in two different groups (‘Bad Meets Evil’ & Slaughterhouse) takes up a lot of my time. I just do the best I can.
LL: Speaking of which, when it comes to ‘Bad meets Evil’ and Slaughterhouse, how do you prioritise which to focus on?
Royce: As far as prioritising, I can say for myself as well as Marshall (Eminem) that we put Slaughterhouse first. Slaughterhouse is our baby. That is the main project and that is what we are focussed on. Slaughterhouse is providing the plateau, it is providing the next stage for us to catapult and create other opportunities for our solo careers. My alliance with Marshall was contingent on the whole Slaughterhouse project. He believes in it just like I believe in it and I have found in our history that whenever we feel the same way about something at the same time, something special happens. That is our shared feeling on Slaughterhouse. ‘Bad meets Evil’ is something fun that Marshall and I wanted to do. It is something alongside our main project; we do not push it in the same way. It was a mini project where we made records for ourselves. We didn’t care who liked it and who didn’t like it. We didn’t care who bought it; it didn’t matter. It was something that we wanted to do. We wanted to get in the studio, get nerdy, play off each other’s words and just have a big sober good time!
LL: I know that your relationship has been up and down with Eminem over the years and then various labels were trying to sign you. Do you feel glad that you reconciled with him and ended up signing with Shady Records?
Royce: I wasn’t always looking for a record deal that’s another thing that I feel is special about the Slaughterhouse project. I was completely content with my whole underground movement and as I learned how to manoeuvre the internet and become more computer savvy I was happy, as I’m a sucker for learning new information. However, the Slaughterhouse project just sort of happened. It felt like God’s work and the fact that I was actually pursuing that situation made me more open to signing a major record deal. I wasn’t necessarily thinking about it before, so Slaughterhouse has opened up a number of doors, not just in terms of my career but it has also opened up my mind as a person.
LL: You mention that you like to learn new things and absorb new information. Have you been learning any other skills recently?
Royce: My Star Sign is Cancer (Royce points out to me that this is the best Star Sign) so I go through different phases. Right now I’m on my barbeque grill phase. I just got a new grill with a smoke alarm so I can’t wait to get home to cook meat on my grill. That’s the phase I’m going through now. I know it sounds a little crazy, but there are a lot of layers to me!
LL: (Laughs) Finally I would like to touch on your earlier comment about fatherhood. I know you have 3 kids, (two boys and a girl) would you encourage them to work in the music industry having experienced it for yourself?
Royce: I wouldn’t encourage it. Obviously if there was talent, then you have got to nurture the talent but I wouldn’t encourage anybody to be a rapper. I wouldn’t encourage it. I will however support anything that my children decide that they want to do. I can look at my babies and tell if they are serious about something. If my son decides he wants to be a rapper and I feel like he is taking it seriously then of course I will support that, but I wouldn’t encourage him to be that. He is 14 years old - he can be the fucking president of the United States so why would I want him to be a rapper? That’s just me being honest…
You can’t help but admire the man’s honesty.Royce Da 5’9’s album, ‘Success is Certain’, is out now.
The Slaughterhouse album will be released August 28th.
Stay up to date with Royce Da 5’9 on Twitter – @Royceda59Slaughterhouse - @Slaughterhouse - @Slaughterhouse
Words: Lori Lane - @Gleaming_Gem
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