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Though I had heard of Royce Da 5'9" from his time as a hypeman with Eminem, it wasn't until I heard him rap over a DJ Premier beat, on the musical shoutout to his johnson, My Friend, that I began to consider him a capable emcee. Despite the questionable subject matter of the song, his lyrical skills were impressive, and the song itself somehow made it onto the soundtrack for one of the And1 mixtapes. Yet having wasted most of his prime engaging in lopsided beefs with D12, Dre and F.A.B., Royce has never been a rapper that I've gone out of my way to listen to.
When the internets recently lit up with "news" about yet another beef involving Royce, this time with Joe Budden, it didn't really catch my attention at first. As I saw more and more people suggest that Royce could actually beat Joe in a lyrical battle, however, I had to take a listen to his latest mixtape to see if he really was on Budden's level. So after giving it a couple days worth of listening, I can say that while it doesn't quite live up to Major's claim of being the "Best MC/Mixtape of the Year," there's a fair amount of material on here worth checking out. I'm not at all convinced that he could hang with Budden in a battle, but there is enough on the mixtape to suggest that he could at least make things interesting (even if it is all just a manufactured beef to sell mixtapes and digital albums).
Besides the jab at Joe Budden, there are a few other names dropped on Bar Exam 2 that may result in some hurt feelings. J-Ro of the Alkaholiks gets called out as a lightweight on one of the interludes (though I bet he could still outdrink Souljah Boy's posse), while Young Berg will probably be reconsidering his affinity for the Transformers after hearing all of the subliminals aimed in his direction. Royce also mentions that Puffy once considered signing him to Bad Boy at one point, but eventually decided to focus on the Making Tha Band crew. Seems like a missed opportunity for Puff, as Royce could have served as the best ghost writer that the label's had on staff since Biggie.
Despite the overall high quality of the lyricism, there are a few regrettable decisions made on the mixtape. One track is marred by guest vocals from Trick Trick, the Detroit stick up kid turned rapper who seems to have patterned his delivery after Mystikal, using his time on the microphone to take credit for robbing a teenager of his oversized chain. Trick's quickly becoming the Suge Knight of talentless emcees, a man whose presence in hip hop has come about solely through bribery and intimidation, and one can only hope that this is the last time Royce teams up with him.
The other problem with this tape is Royce's capitulation to the growing horde of autotuned rappers. While there's nothing on here that compares to the vocoded train wreck of Love Lockdown - more often than not Royce uses the autotuning gimmick as an acknowledgment of the beat that he's jacking, as on his appropriation of Game's My Life - even a brief use of the autotuner is too much at this point.
Here are the most notable tracks on Bar Exam 2:
Royce Da 5'9" - Jockin' My Fresh
Royce Da 5'9" - Freestyle
Royce Da 5'9" featuring Trick Trick - We Deep
You can find links to download Royce's Bar Exam 2 over on google.
9/24/2008 01:12:01 PM posted by Fresh