| Royce da 5’9" | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ryan Daniel Montgomery |
| Born | July 5, 1977 |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupations | Rapper |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | Gracie Productions, Shady Records |
| Associated acts | Eminem, Bad Meets Evil, DJ Premier, Slaughterhouse, Carlos "6 July" Broady, Tré Little |
| Website | http://www.royceda5nine.com/ |
Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born July 5, 1977), better known by his stage name Royce da 5'9", is a Detroit rapper. He is known for his longtime association with Eminem and for his solo career, recording primarily with DJ Premier, Nottz and Carlos "6 July" Broady, as well as ghostwriting for the likes of P. Diddy and Dr. Dre. Royce is one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with Eminem and also a member of hip hop group Slaughterhouse.
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Ryan Montgomery was born and raised on the West Side of Detroit, Michigan on W. McNichols & Wyoming Ave. He moved to Oak Park, Michigan when he was 10 years old, later acquiring the nickname "Royce" during highschool after wearing a Turkish link chain with an R pendant resembling the Rolls Royce symbol. He started rapping at age 18, influenced mainly by Ras Kass and Redman.[1] He signed his first deal in 1998 with Tommy Boy Records, after Tommy Boy Records shut down, he signed a deal with Columbia Records where he started recording an album called Rock City, referring to Detroit's former status as home to Motown Records. When the project was heavily bootlegged, Royce left the label for Koch Records to re-record some of the album, eventually releasing it in 2002 as Rock City (Version 2.0). While the album did not sell very well, the DJ Premier-produced single "Boom" gained Royce some underground recognition and eventually resulted in the two working together more closely.
Through his manager, Royce was introduced to Eminem at a show in 1997, and the two formed a working relationship; they formed up as a duo, Bad Meets Evil, and released several tracks together. Royce appeared on Eminem's debut studio album The Slim Shady LP, in which he was featured on a song called "Bad Meets Evil". Royce and Eminem also released a track called "Renegades", from which Royce's vocals would later be replaced with Jay-Z's on the latter's The Blueprint. Through Eminem, Royce would also be introduced to both Dr. Dre and execs at Game Recordings. After his manager revealed that Royce was involved in writing the tracks "The Message" and an original version of "Xxplosive" for Dre's 2001 (entitled "Way I Be Pimping"),[2] Dre requested that Royce cut ties with his manager. Royce refused to fire his manager, and then his relationship with Dre ended.
Royce had a falling-out with Eminem's hip-hop group D12, including mutual friend and group member Proof and Ariffin. This resulted in a drawn-out, public rivalry between the rapper and five of the six members, with Royce releasing three diss tracks aimed at the group. The first diss track, "Shit On You", was recorded over D12's Shit On You instrumental' and mainly attacked group member Bizarre. "Malcolm X" was the second diss track, which featured Tré Little. D12 responded with "Smack Down" which was recorded over 50 Cent's "Back Down" instrumental. Proof also recorded a diss track entitled "Many Men". This was recorded over 50 Cent's "Many Men (Wish Death)" instrumental. Proof later released another diss with The Purple Gang called "Beef Is Ova". Royce responded with his third diss track, which was recorded over 50 Cent's "In Da Club" instrumental titled "Death Day". The feud ended later and Royce was featured in a mixtape of D12 released in 2008 called Return Of the Dozen. They also went on tour in Europe and Canada together.
Royce signed with Game Recordings, for whom he had recorded several tracks for the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto III, released in 2001. The in-game radio station, Game Radio FM, prominently featured Royce's "I'm The King", an Alchemist-produced solo track that (along with the publicized beef) helped elevate Royce's name beyond his association with Eminem. In 2004, he released his second and most critically successful album to date, Death is Certain, charting with another Premier-produced single, "Hip-Hop".
After the relative success of his sophomore effort, the MC put out a third solo project, Independent's Day, in 2005. This was met with less acclaim than either of his previous releases. During this time, the rivalry between Royce and former friend Proof reached a boiling point in the streets of Detroit, on an occasion where the two rappers drew guns; they were subsequently arrested and left to work out their differences while spending the night in neighboring cells in jail. The time spent in jail led to the artists ending their feud and subsequently embarking on two overseas tours together.[3] Though the MC had planned other projects involving Nottz and his former crew, D-Elite, these were cut short after a sentencing to one year in prison for a DUI.[4]. Royce also guest appeared on British rapper Professor Green's track 'Nightmares' also featuring Kobe on the album At Your Inconvenience.[5]
After his release in 2007, Royce with DJ Premier and Statik Selektah released the mixtape The Bar Exam. He also announced an album with Premier; in an interview with Elemental Magazine, Royce stated that, contrary to rumors, Premier would not be producing the entirety of his upcoming album, but will be overseeing the project as executive producer, handpicking all of the beats. Following The Bar Exam, Royce wrote the single for Diddy's album Press Play, "Tell Me". Following this, the producer expressed interest in signing the lyricist to Bad Boy Entertainment;[6] Nas has also stated that he would like to sign Royce to his Def Jam imprint, The Jones Experience.[7] Neither of these deals, however, materialized.
In early 2008 Royce confirmed that he had officially resolved misunderstandings between himself and Eminem.[8] He released The Bar Exam 2 with DJ Green Lantern later in the year, as well as a retail version of the mixtape The Album; the projects featured production from Green Lantern, 9th Wonder, Premier and 6 July, among others. Later worked on his Premier-assisted retail release, Street Hop, the lead single of which was "Shake This", also produced by DJ Premier. The video to the song circulated the internet, and the project was released 20 October 2009.[9]
Joe Budden collaborated with Crooked I, Royce da 5'9", Joell Ortiz and Nino Bless on a track titled "Slaughterhouse" on his digital release, Halfway House. Based on the reception of the track, they decided to form a super-group, minus Nino Bless, and named it after the first song they made together.[10] They released numerous songs throughout early 2009, building a buzz for their self-titled album, which was released through E1 on August 11, 2009.[11] The album features production from The Alchemist, DJ Khalil, Mr. Porter, Streetrunner, plus guest appearances from Pharoahe Monch, K. Young, and The New Royales. The group signed with Shady Records on January 12, 2011.
After Royce reconciled with Eminem, the duo started working again on new music and released Hell: The Sequel on June 14, 2011. There are plans for Eminem and Royce to record a Bad Meets Evil LP in 2013 after Eminem's next solo record. The album has released two singles so far. They are Fast Lane and Lighters featuring Bruno Mars.
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
US Rap |
US Heat |
US Ind |
FRA [12] |
|||
| 2002 | Rock City (Version 2.0)
|
— | 29 | 6 | 7 | 122 | US: 109,000 | |
| 2004 | Death Is Certain
|
161 | 39 | 4 | 5 | — | US: 84,000 | |
| 2005 | Independent's Day
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 | Street Hop
|
110 | 29 | 11 | 2 | 13 | — | |
| 2011 | Success Is Certain
|
25 | 7 | 5 | — | 3 | — | US: 45,000 |
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US R&B |
US Rap |
BEL | GER | SWE | SWI | UK | |||||
| 1999 | "I'm the King" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Grand Theft Auto III soundtrack | ||
| 2000 | "Boom" | — | 48 [13] |
— | — | — | — | — | Rock City (Version 2.0) | ||
| 2001 | "You Can't Touch Me" | 66 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2002 | "Rock City" (featuring Eminem) |
99 | — | 45 | 30 | 44 | 37 | — | |||
| 2004 | "Hip Hop" | 98 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Death Is Certain | ||
| 2005 | "Politics" (featuring Cee Lo Green) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | Independent's Day | ||
| 2009 | "Shake This" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Street Hop | ||
| "Part of Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "New Money" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2011 | "Writer's Block" (featuring Eminem) |
104 [14] |
— | — | — | — | — | 199 [15] |
Success Is Certain | ||
| "Second Place" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Legendary" (featuring Travis Barker) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or receive certification. | |||||||||||
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [16] |
US R&B [17] |
US Rap [18] |
AUS [19] |
CAN [20] |
IRE [21] |
NZ [22] |
SWE [23] |
SWI [24] |
UK [25] |
||||
| 1999 | "Nuttin' to Do" (as Bad Meets Evil) |
— | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 182 | Non-album single | |
| 2009 | "The One" (as Slaughterhouse) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Slaughterhouse | |
| 2011 | "Back on the Scene" (as Slaughterhouse; featuring Dres) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Slaughterhouse | |
| "Fast Lane" (as Bad Meets Evil) |
32 | — | — | 88 | 50 | — | 35 | — | — | 66 | Hell: The Sequel | ||
| "Lighters" (as Bad Meets Evil; featuring Bruno Mars) |
4 | 75 | 6 | 17 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 18 | 10 | 10 | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or receive certification. | |||||||||||||
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | AUS | ||||
| 2001 | "I Wanna Be Bad" (Willa Ford featuring Royce da 5'9") |
22 | 52 | Willa Was Here | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or receive certification. | |||||
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