Growing up in Detroit has made it possible for Royce Da 5’9 to brace for 2020.
Millions citizens are finally uncovering the horrific compound police brutality and systemic racism in the aftermath the deaths George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmed Aubrey. Thanks to the COVID-19 shutdown, there was no avoidance (or shortage) information fed to phones as it visualized their unconscionable demises.
In the case Nickel Nine, he’s not only seen it all, he’s documented the harsh realities in all his eight studio albums. His most recent parable came in the form February’s heralded The Allegory. His cerebral commentary, while papercut sharp, still had to contend with the unprecedented deaths Kobe Bryant and Pop Smoke, as well as other Auto-Tuned creampuff ditties.
Needless to say, in today’s chaotic climate, the album is hitting a little different for fans.
In the first installment implurnt’s latest quarantine-controlled interview, Royce was rather forthcoming in admitting his early running days with Eminem opened his eyes to the good side white people after experiencing so much injustice. As a matter fact, he remembered the first time he was called the n-word was when he moved into a new neighborhood.
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“Well, growing up for me, I moved to a city called Oak Park when I was real young, and it’s basically … 8 Mile separates Oak Park from Detroit,” Royce explained to implurnt Editor-In-Chief Trent Clark and Content Coordinator Jeremy Hecht. “So Oak Park kind is Detroit, but technically it’s not Detroit. It’s a predominantly black city but there’s white people who live there. Especially when I moved there.
“Actually, the first day that I moved there, the very first day, I got called the n-word and that was my first time being called the n-word,” he said before spiraling into a backstory involving his older brother’s peer pressure that is a must-hear soundbite.
And seeing that his history with Eminem runs much longer than the days cashing industry checks, it was their early rap bond that translated to racial relations.
“When you encounter people … like with me, Em is like … Marshall was like my guy, that I got in my life … that he didn’t seal the deal, but he played a huge role in me not generalizing white people,” he clarified as he went on to detail how his changing his surroundings fully opened his eyes.
“I can imagine if I had just stayed in the environment that I grew up in, and I’d only seen the world through the lens that environment,” he continued. “Quite naturally, not only would I miss out on certain pieces development, but it would skew my vision, limit my vision, so to speak. Because a lot the problems that we’re seeing, though they look like isolated, separate problems, they all somehow crash into each other at some point. They’re all rooted in the same kinds shit.
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“So like, little Jason from 7 Mile, in the hood, that’s kind like a product being marginalized and pushed out some sort gentrified area … The problem is not only the area, but it’s the mind frame the people in the area. They’re literally looking at the TV and they’re seeing what they view as success, and they don’t feel connected to it. They view that as like the world, they don’t feel connected to that. They feel outside the paradigm everything they see on TV. They look at it as some faraway place, that if you somehow make it to there, then you’re getting away from this.”
Indulge in Part 1 implurnt’s new Royce Da 5’9 interview above and revisit The Allegory below.