Where's Royce?

We all hold our personal views and opinions when it comes to our music, and after reading Serch's blog pertaining to the most slept on artists of all time I could only wince in horror to find that one of my all time favorite artists did not make the cut. (No Worries Serch!!) When you come from a city such as Detroit you can expect a couple of things when Hip-Hop is the topic of discussion, such as 1.Eminem is from Detroit 2.Eminem is from 8 mile 3.Eminem lives in Detroit....are we seeing a pattern yet? Let us go back to a simpler time before the rap olympics that made Em famous, before D12 had reunited,before we lost Proof and Dilla,when Eminem was a young and hungry Emcee with an equally talented and hungry partner in rhyme by the name of Royce Da 5'9". These two Emcees not only formed a friendship and bond but also a little known group by the name of "Bad Meets Evil" which had a number of great tracks,most notabley the song "scary movies" which was featured on the soundtrack to the film "Scary Movie",but along their trek down the road of fame problems occured (if you want the full story go rent "BEEF 2" from Blockbuster) and these two boys from the D went their seperate ways. We all know what happend to Em but for the less educated on the matter, one of the sickest Emcee's to ever grace the mic (my opinion) slipped through the cracks of the mainstream record label industry. Let us start at record number one...1. Rock city 2.0: This album showcased Nickel-Nine's versatility on a number of i-pod worthy tracks such as "It's Tuesday", "Rock City","Boom",and one of the Neptune Produced tracks "My Friend" where as this album in my opinion is very good it is not his best,now lets fast forward through a couple of mixtapes that have far too many tracks to dissect and discuss, altho I do recommend checking them out (most are available for free download @ http://www.nickelnine.com/) To Royce's Debut on the Koch label 2. Death Is Certain: this is one of my favorite 5'9" albums because on this particular album he sheds his humblness and unleashes most of his anger he has regarding the Em and Dre mishap and all the record label shit along the way. tracks on this album include "Regardless","What I Know","Throwback","T.O.D.A.Y.",and the Dj Premiere produced "Hip Hop",all of which are very dope cuts. Another album up and another album gone with little to no recognition for the Emcee from Detroit (NOT EMINEM!)but as time passed indifferences were settled and the two are now on speaking terms, Royce's short stint in jail for a D.U.I. arrest,and a large international tour brings us to 2009 and the release of the Dj Green Lantern hosted Bar Exam 2, which is the follow up to 07's Static Selektah and Dj Premiere hosted Bar Exam. This album is different from the rest, a different feel,a different sound,and most of all a different Royce.With this mixtape his sound and demeanor has changed (for the better) on these cuts you hear a man who gives a fuck less about the industry and is here to lyrically deliver for himself and his fans......by far my favorite Royce Da 5'9" album yet,and as I informed you earlier most of Nickel Nines mixtapes are available for free down load at http://www.nickelnine.com/. I thank you for the time you devoted to reading this and look forward to your views and opinions on my views and opinions,because thats what this blog is..........OPINION

-----Renegade Rich