Royce da 5'9 - Street Hop

What a stallion. This review will be in the Winter 2009 issue of Emmie.

ROYCE DA 5’9
Street Hop
[One Records]
7,112

Pathos in hip-hop: it doesn’t happen often. But while listening to Royce da 5’9’s Street Hop, I shed many (figurative) tears of sorrow for the Detroit MC’s uncertain future. For over three years, rumors spread of a fourth studio release from Royce, despite a year-long prison sentence for parole violation and uncertainty regarding longtime collaborator DJ Premier’s involvement in the album’s production. The first pangs of dismay came when it was confirmed that Premier would only executively produce Street Hop, limiting his involvement to beat selection as opposed to composition. Nonetheless, Royce was poised to impress with his lyrical virtuosity, having done so over the summer in a collaborative release with Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I entitled Slaughterhouse. Upon release, it’s clear that Street Hop is paralyzed by a lack of artistic unity, preventing the album from becoming anything beyond an underground hit reminiscent of a mixtape.

Notwithstanding, many of the songs on Street Hop are gems. “Count For Nothing” is a bloodthirsty monster of a track where Royce invites the listener to “name whoever you want/ Wayne…’Ye…Jay” because he’s “just playin’ wit 'em.” His razor-edged flow is a finely tuned mix of internal rhyme, punchline, and meter that devastates the horn sample-based beat used by producer Nottz to build a frenzied pace. Royce delivers a heavy lyrical blow when he claims that “it ain’t an arm when it’s tucked in my box/ this is Lindsay Lohan, niggas call me firecrotch.” The subsequent series of internal rhymes are unrelenting in their ferocity: “I’m seein' clear like a MyBot/ I drop my coupe, black shoes, black Noob Saibot/ I spit fire like Izod, why not.” This peppering of similes, all tied in rhyme, are a fury of lyrical stabs that leave the listener stunned. Even though it falters collectively, expect this type of splendid delivery throughout many parts of Street Hop. Royce da 5’9 can doubtlessly murder any number of tracks; now he must focus on linking these to create a polished product.