On the same day as his new album dropped, Royce Da 5'9" dropped by The Angie Martinez where they two got into how music has changed, politics, working with J. Cole, the current state of Kanye West, the status of Slaughterhouse and not agreeing with Joe Budden disrespecting Eminem.
While discussing the importance of what bars used to be versus what a circus is it out here in the streets, Royce goes down memory lane. “Remember when people wanted to rap? That’s what people did to garner attention" he says as oppose to all the social media trolling that goes on these days.
About all the controversy surrounding Kanye, the rapper says that he it’s his America freedom of speech and he's allowed to use it. "I hold him to a high regard as an artist, he’s a god" Royce says about Kanye. "As a person I don’t hold him to a high regard to where I want to control his political views. It is admirable that he’s standing his ground like that.”
On where Slaughterhouse stands right now Royce says that they have parted ways, but there’s no beef between them" he says. “We’re definitely good, it’s not a fall out. Joe [Budden] has a vision as to where the group should go, I disagree with him."
They also touched on Joe trashing Em's latest album publicly while still doing his Complex show 'Every Day Struggle.' "It caused weirdness with me. I don’t like when people talk about my friends” he says about Joe saying Eminem’s album was trash and using some choice words which were unnecessary and mostly for trolling since Joe is now a media personality. “I think he owes him an apology" he concludes on that topic.
Royce also gives us some insight as how it was to work with J. Cole and watch him direct his very first video. “He was giving direction, having conversations about camera angles" says Royce. "He got a team of people he feels comfortable with. He did everything a director does…he sat in the editing room."
While speaking about what we can expect from the new album, 'Book Of Ryan,' he says that we’re going to hear his growth as an artist and goes on to break down his most personal song on the project. "Cocaine is one of the most important songs, it’s about addiction. My dad was addicted to cocaine…he’s my hero. He overcame that addition" he says. "Just like the strength of choosing your family over your addiction is amazing.”
'Book Of Ryan' has 21 songs in total and features guest appearance from Eminem, Boogie, Pusha T, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Logic, T-Pain, J. Cole and more.