Royce Da 5’9: “Street Hop” (Album Review)
Personally, I'm just glad his head isn't doing the "Shiny, Mr. Clean" thing. That would suck. Props to the album cover artist for that.
I’ve been following Royce since he signed, fell out, and then reconciled with Eminem and the Shady Records camp. He’s dropped the Eminem backed album “Rock City” (which I still unfortunately haven’t heard in its entirety….don’t judge me), which got heavily bootlegged, then renamed to Version 2, and then subsequently flopped.
After that’s he’s been struggling to make the “Reference” album, which is what all artists should have. The one album that people associate to an artist, whether good or bad… Eminem has “The Marshall Mathers LP”, Dre had “The Chronic 2001”, 50 had “Get Rich or Die Trying”, Jay-Z had “The Blueprint”, etc.
In the meantime, he’s dropped two CLASSIC mixtapes (“The Bar Exam” and “Bar Exam 2”) in which he shows off renewed focus and a lyrical prowess that was virtually unmatched (except by his SlaughterHouse brothers). With this mindset, he goes back into making the album “Street Hop.”
He can struggle no more. This SHOULD be the album to shake off the doubters about his ability to make a consistent record solo. There’s something about hanging around those SlaughterHouse cats that did him good…
The Good: The term “Lyrical Armageddon” comes to mind when listening to this album. Charismatic punchlines are ALL throughout the album, and Royce flips and switches flows mid-flow like it’s an 18-speed bike heading down a hill at full speed… In other words, it’s effortless for him. Albums like this seriously should make rappers consider finding a new day-job.
The concepts for each song was solid, and the interlude/skits are ROFLMAO funny (“Ho-Jack!” LOL *dead*). However, the surprising thing about this album isn’t the amazing production or even the wordplay, because lately Royce has been all about quality. The biggest thing that extremely impressed me will be explained later.
A while ago, Royce released "The Revival EP", a small sample of what to expect from the full album "Street Hop." It promised a lot, but the album delivered. Very well done.
The Bad: HONESTLY I had to be honest with myself, because I noticed that because he’s in SlaughterHouse, I’m a little biased. But a couple of songs were clever with its delivery but the overall point of the song was just BS rap, but even the BS rap songs are SO well-done and clever, it’s hard to complain about it.
“Soldier” brings in a “Snatchback/Rewind” introduction to each verse, “Mine In Thiz” goes into psychotic Royce rap (Mr. Porter went CLOVERFIELD STATUS on the production for that track, GEEZ)and “Bad Boy” has Royce channeling his Jamaican flow, so the term BS rap might not even apply if you want to analyze it.
The Urban Narrative: The most impressive tracks on the CD are the ones where Royce turns into a storyteller. “On The Run” tells a story of Royce set in a different alternate reality in which he’s caught at a hotel by cops. After that, the track “Murder” flashes to earlier and how his decision to pursue someone led him into his death. And then a little later, Royce tells a story of a guy trying to hit it big by being a sleaze ball in the club who runs into the wrong two girls.
When I say the wrong two girls…I mean… They put Lorena Bobbit to SHAME. By the end of the album, I found myself as engrossed in his narrative as I was with Andre 3000’s and Eminem’s…
Bottom Line: This album is fire. Is it his best album to date? I think so, but the verdict is still out on that. I do know it’s one of the best 5 albums (as of now) of the year, and that there should be no doubt in anyone’s head that he can make albums. It’s something about those slaughterhouse dudes that’s special… but then again, what else do you expect from the General of the SlaughterHouse Machine?
—–> Final Rating: 4.5 / 5 <—–
Favorite Tracks
- “On The Run/Murder” <–AMAZING.
- “Mine In Thiz” feat. Mr. Porter
- “Gun Harmonizing” feat. Crooked I
- “Count For Nothing”
