Royce da 5'9", "Street Hop"

Royce da 5’9”
Street Hop
(M.I.C. Records/One Records)

The road for this proclaimed LL Cool J look-a-like has certainly had its twists. From playing sidekick to and then beefing with Eminem, to ghostwriting for Diddy, to getting locked up – Royce da 5’9” has accumulated something of a back-story. Then again, these happenings are merely par for the course in the rap game, falling far short of catching nine slugs. Still, one would think that Royce’s past endeavors might be a source of inspiration for sincere material. Instead, Street Hop shows an artist fearing the decline of their market value.

Royce is a capable MC with an affable drawl, but this album suffers from a congestion of mindless club bangers with Auto-Tune hooks, suffocating the more clever and well-crafted songs to found here: see “Dinner Time” (featuring a hilarious Busta Rhymes) and “Shake This” for examples of when things gel. Two times too long and heavily disjointed, even the legendary DJ Premier (executive producer) can’t establish cohesive flow between tracks; it’s like mashing down the highway at 120 mph in an Escalade and being abruptly warped to the dance floor where a scantly clad rat spills her $1.50 well drink down the front you. At best, Street Hop is worth “acquiring” in order to filter out the banalities.



-- Dave Woods