Fighter: Royce Da 5’9”
Trainer (Gym): Mr. Porter (Bad Half Entertainment)
Cut Men: AntMan Wonder, DJ Khalil, DJ Pain 1, Daniel Smith, Epikh, G Koop, J. Rhodes, Jake One, Nottz, S1
Weight Class: Lyrical Heavyweight
Notable Fire: Tabernacle, Hard, Gottaknow, Layers Feat. Pusha T & Rick Ross, Pray
Notable Trash: Quiet Feat. Tiara & Mr. Porter
Tale Of The Tape: There’s an theory that exists within hip-hop that’s about as old as boom bap itself: an artist’s first album is most likely to be their best because it contains all the life experiences the artist encountered leading up to its release, whereas subsequent albums only contain the experiences that took place between the last album and the next. But what if the artist declines to divulge major life experiences on their debut album?
You’re left with an LP like Royce 5’9”’s Layers.
With his talent often flying under the radar, Royce is like the rap version of Paul Millsap. An unheralded second round pick coming out of school, Millsap made his bones playing for the Utah Jazz before moving to Atlanta. Quietly he’s improved his game each year, and although he’s been on some decent teams, none of them were good enough to make a significant playoff run. Still, he’s been in the company of greatness as he’s made three All-Star teams; more than Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Manu Ginobili, Larry Johnson, Antawn Jamison, Stephon Marbury, Steve Smith, Zach Randolph, Michael Redd, Calvin Murphy, Derrick Coleman, Dennis Rodman, Bill Walton, and many more than you probably thought. Royce has been in regular company of perennial All-Stars like Eminem and DJ Premier, but he’s also a card carrying member of Slaughterhouse, a group that’s essentially the Atlanta Hawks of rap (even if they’re more like the Spurs in the context of pure lyricism). So how are we supposed to react when Paul Millsap wins the MVP award? That could be what we’re dealing with.
On his Trust the Shooter EP, on his promo tour, and on the album itself, Royce has not been shy about sharing his story— something he had previously never done to this extent despite being on his fourth solo album after nearly 20 years in the rap game. The LP starts with “Tabernacle”, a window into the most important day in Royce’s life. This intro track doubles as a window into Layers, as it set the tone for the entire project.
As it turns out, Layers is as much a verb as it is a noun. After dissecting the day in which his son was born/his grandmother died/he met Marshall Mathers, Royce delves into a plethora of topics that produced the wordsmith that stands before us. His childhood, his alcohol addiction, his lust for women, and his struggles within the rap industry—all of these received at least a passing reference. It revealed a new vulnerable side of Ryan Montgomery. In the end though, Royce reveals himself to be a knowledgeable old-head whose vast life experiences spread over 38 years has reaped an abundance of wisdom.
At any point during your Layers listening session, you’re liable to hear jewels dropped intermittently in between Motor City slick talk. Royce takes us back to The D on tracks like “Startercoat”, where he cleverly floated the same rhyme scheme throughout the entire song. He also took a creative approach to “Hard”, which featured something of a spoken word intro as he describes the disconnect between him and his teachers before claiming this moment as his own. “My finest hour is here, this is what I see in my prayers/This is me, though I’m facing all of my fears/Making all my enemies look in the mirror/And see the meme, of the Jordan face with all of the tears.”
Nickel Nine’s self-assurance spills over into “Wait”, a vibrant Jake One track that further cements his dominance as a lyricist. “Being feared goes farther than any part of me having respect does/So I play to the tune of my own eardrum/While I’m out on my quest, love/I don’t speak on behalf of myself, but my impeccable rep does.”
Royce proceeds to weave a story of infidelity involving himself, his wife, his mistress and a lame named Lincoln, before landing on the soulful “Dope!“, where he describes the desire to make fast money via hustling. He then takes a social stance on “America”, where (among other things) he references the poisoning of our food supply, and the damage caused by psychological enslavement at a young age. Royce hammers home the message that, “everyone is born and raised to think like a dead man” causing “America” to perfectly complement the demoralizing conversation with his teacher on “Hard”. Royce recently told Vibe Magazine that his youth was plagued by teachers encouraging him to aim low in life, and to not pursue higher education. Needless to say the project benefited from that inadvertent inspiration.
Three of the final four songs on Layers close out the LP in a strong fashion. The Mr. Porter produced title track plays like it was crafted specifically for Rick Ross — and Pusha T for that matter — while giving off a dark, almost demonic feel. Ross and Push performed as to be expected (Pusha T outshines him), but not to be outdone, Royce left a lasting lyrical impression on one of the album’s cornerstone tracks. “Ain’t got no time for you to try on no Manolo Blahniks/All I got time to do is, go back in time and pose with the Unabomber/Just so I can, go back in time a second time to photobomb it.”
Sidebar: Although this was a recycled verse.
“Gottaknow” and “Off” are the prefect representation of Royce Da 5’9” showing exactly what he is: a professional rapper. An avid boxing fan, Royce casually spits a few bars highlighting the need to be nice with the hands if one ever gets locked up on “Gottaknow” (a portion of arguably the best verse on the album).
“Gotta be careful where you place your wisdom/All it takes is just one conversation, where you unbeknownst to the fact you’re talking to an abomination/At the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong crime taking place/That’ll put you away for a long grind, where it’s locked/Where it’s not safe unless you know them combinations”
Montgomery signs “Off” with an easygoing autobiographical flow that was reminiscent of how Common closed out Be 11 years ago. Yet in true Royce fashion, he reminds us that his mental makeup is still a fragile one. “I’m a real nigga/I done lost a lot of friends over the years/I’ve been losing a lot of hair/Been told that I’m out my mind/But if you only knew what was inside it, you too would choose to stay out of there.”
The bars highlighted above are just a few personal favorites, but Layers is filled with colorful couplets that reminds you why lyricists like Eminem, Joe Budden and Joell Ortiz aligned themselves with Royce in the first place.
Fight Night: Eighth Round KO
The road for Royce Da 5’9” to reach this point in his career was hardly a straight and narrow one. Apart from everything he expounded upon on Layers, Royce has never had a solo record as commercially successful as this one. Letting his heart bleed through the pen was an interesting choice of attempting to gain more notoriety (or “how to get props like let’s say, a Drake”), but it seems to be effective. From a career-move standpoint, Layers was hardly a risky endeavor, because people can easily relate to alcoholism, uncle’s with drug problems, growing up poor, stepping out on their spouses, and being knocked down and counted out. The only thing this record is missing is a few more songs with some bounce. Still, a 17-track work without any wack records (“Quiet” only made the Notable Trash list because the beat was hard on the ears), Layers is remarkably consistent and should go down as another great story from the very rich rap biography of Detroit hip-hop.
Two decades into his career, and now resting comfortably in sobriety, Royce is evolving and finally getting the recognition he deserves as an independent rap act. His lyricism always spoke for itself, but no longer does he need to lean on the likes of Em, Premo or Slaughterhouse for recognition. When December hits, Layers will undoubtedly be talked about as one of the best rap albums to drop in 2016, which is a beautiful thing because Layers may have helped save Ryan Montgomery’s life.