Album Review: Royce Da 5’9″ – Street Hop (2009)

Album Review: Royce Da 5’9″ – Street Hop (2009)
Rating: 3 out of 5 Potholes

Let me start off by saying that this review will not discuss Royce’s past trials and tribulations. No need to get into his past beef with his former mentor’s camp or his run-in with the law on DUI charges. In 2009, Royce weathered the storm. He served as ¼ of the supergroup, Slaughterhouse (that could go down as one of the best ever), and released his highly-anticipated fourth studio album, Street Hop.

The album itself was slated to come out in 2007 and major delays followed since its original release date. A slew of rumors have also subsided since the initial talks as well. The major buzz was that 5’9″’s latest project was supposed to be entirely produced by longtime collaborator, DJ Premier. Although Primo did not go all-in on Street Hop, the legendary producer is still onboard to lace Royce with three joints on the lengthy record as well as put his name down as executive producer. Premier joins a star-studded beatsmith cast with Nottz, Emile, Frequency, Streetrunner, Carlos “Six July” Broady, and Mr. Porter in the production makeup of Street Hop.

The album kicks off with no introduction. Instead, the listener is bombarded by Royce firing lyrical rounds on Emile-produced “Gun Harmonizing” featuring Crooked I. Nickel-Nine’s sonic shells are guaranteed to send ear shots through speakers as he tongues machine gun blasts throughout the opening record. It is worth noting that the album has some previously released songs (Revival EP) such as the aforementioned “Gun Harmonizing” along with “Count for Nothing”, “Warriors”, and “Street Hop 2010”. On the second track of the album, “Count for Nothing”, Royce sounds hungry as ever with his numerical wordplay. The record contains the count-up (one through ten) Chuck D sample, from “Shut ‘Em Down”, which was also found on “Ten Crack Commandments”. Nottz’s backdrop does a superb job in bringing out the best in Royce. Royce’s swagger on the track even finds him spitting “I’m a veteran, the mac-11 the pump/ You could name whoever you want/ Wayne… Yay… Jay /Hahaha, I’m just playin wit ’em…”. All joking aside, Royce could seriously be mentioned in the same sentence as the above-mentioned spitkickers one of these days.

Royce is then joined by Phonte on the Sunday-smooth “Something 2 Ride 2”. With Phon-Tigga providing the chorus, Royce on his “Guerilla Thing Thing” and Preme on the boards this is a sure highlight. Busta then stops in to drop a better bridge than verse in the vicious “Dinner Time” produced by London’s own Quincey Tones. Royce does his best T-Pain spinoff in the first 20 seconds of “Far Away”. Emile then scratches record and the real subject matter turns out to be a murderous melody about popping people in Auto-Tune. It is entertaining to see Royce have a lighter side to his musicianship. As we move ahead, Royce calls on his team, Slaughterhouse, to kill the Mafioso based soundscape in “The Warriors”.

Streetrunner’s “New Money”, Revival’s “Shake This”, and “Street Hop 2010” all deserve honorable mention before we get into the downturns of the later portion of the voluminous LP. The plunge starts with the lethargic “Mine In Thiz” featuring Denaun Porter as a besotted Royce holds the whole club hostage on clumsy thuggery. On the Raf Moses-produced “Gangsta”, a monotonous Royce loses substance in a dull beat that includes a sleazy sample from rock band, Evans Blue. Royce teams up with Chip Fu aka Jungle Rock Jr. on “Bad Boy”. The reggaeton, drum and bass filler could easily be mistaken for a lost track from the Belly Soundtrack and should be ignored as Royce attempts to experiment with unfamiliar ground (Jamaican Accent).

Street Hop starts off with a bang then ends up on a flat note as the outstretched 19-track album loses steam when the tracks heads into the teens. However, being a fan of Royce since he was the “King of Kings”, the album was not a letdown by any means. I just wish the seasoned Detroit MC cut some of the latter tracks off the record to earn 4-4.5 near-classic status and maybe then his name may be brought up with the likes of “Wayne… Yay… Jay.”