Royce Da 5'9" has been sort of on a roll recently; joining Slaughterhouse, signing with Shady, and then dropping an album with Eminem that landed him some additional notoriety and radio airplay. I wasn't really able to get into Hell: The Sequel as was the case with all of Royce's solo albums to this point even though he is one of the best rappers around. Some of this may have to do with being on low-budget record labels, or maybe a shitty taste in beats that make his non Premo-produced material hard to listen to. Is this going to be the first Royce album that I like or just further affirmation that making a good album takes more than lyrical battle raps?
1. Legendary (Feat. Travis Barker)
A rock-inspired intro appropriately featuring Travis Barker, whose all over rap albums these days. Royce goes hard to match the energy of the track but his punch lines are very hit or miss.
2. Writer's Block (Feat. Eminem)
A high octane banger full of glitchy noises and choirs not unlike "H.A.M." but with Eminem on the hook. I assume that these are the two reasons why they made it a single.
3. Merry Go Round
The chorus on this is so incredibly corny it's a wonder that Royce Da 5'9" even let this be a part of his album. Unfortunately, it ruins a decent song otherwise with Royce reflecting on events that shaped his career path.
4. Where My Money
Royce raps about how he's going to rob hip-hop, or something, with a weak flow and lyrics that make little to no sense. Maybe being a poor, underground rapper has made him completely disillusioned with the music industry, or maybe he's just not very smart.
5. ER (Feat. Kid Vishis)
A concept track with Royce as a doctor operating on the rap game in the first verse then Kid Vishis rhyming as the game "revived" in the second. This might go back to him being a bitter underground rapper, but I don't know why Royce sounds so pissed off on every song. For the record, nothing takes the edge off of an angry verse quite like the word "Twitter".
6. On The Boulevard (Feat. Nottz & Adonis)
Nottz and Royce tell a story about the dangers of growing up in the ghetto through "Kenny", who aspired to be a track star but ends up selling crack. Or something like that.
7. I Ain't Coming Down
This one is more like it. I like this sample and Royce spits witty and occasionally heartfelt lyrics about his beefs and haters and all that good shit.
8. Security
Royce swaps his angry flow for a monotone delivery on this a dedication to Proof, like 4 years later. The first two verses about him and Proof were great but the amount of times he raps about making amends with Em and D12 on this album would make The Game blush.
9. Second Place
This isn't exactly a classic Premo record but it still thumps and it's still better than 98% of beats of out there. His tracks do tend to bring out the best in Royce, though at the end of the second verse he just starts giggling.
10. My Own Planet (Feat. Joe Budden)
I actually thought this was going to be a spoof record when I heard the synths kick in, but then I remembered what I said earlier about Royce's beat selection. Somehow this isn't totally awful, but Royce and Joe Budden just aren't meant to make shit like this.
11. I've Been Up I've Been Down
More emo babble from Royce over a Linkin Park beat to round out the album.
Comments: Royce is still without an album that I like, which I'm sure he cares a lot about. He is definitely a good rapper but he lacks the ability to pick beats and put songs together which results in mediocre albums such as this.
Best Songs: "Security", "Second Place"
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