Royce da 5'9" — Rock City (Version 2.0)

Debut album by Ryan "Royce da 5'9"" Montgomery, rapper from Detroit, Michigan. After signing with Tommy Boy rejecting Dr. Dre's Aftermath, Tommy Boy shuts down and the rapper settles with Columbia / Sony. The album is originally planned for 2000, but it's bootlegged and Royce left Columbia to signs with Koch Records. Its debut LP comes out at the end of 2002, as "Version 2.0", with a different tracklist than the original and some songs re-recorded.

This new version of the project features the production of Nashiem Myrick, Lee Stone, DJ Premier, Neptunes, Trackmasterz, Red Spyda, 6 July, Ty Fyffe, Reef, Ayatollah and Doc Soose. Guests are Eminem, Clipse, Pharrell, Twista, Amerie and Tre Little. It's released by Game Recordings and Koch Records: it was meant to be his debut studio album with a major label, Columbia asked for an important commercial return, so, the producers chose rhythms that could have gone strong on the radio and clubs. Neptunes and Trackmasters are here purely to do this, and their choices obviously turn out to be simplistic and bad (and profitable: top 30 among rap records, top 10 in the independent chart). The only ones with a semblance of talent behind the keyboards are Ayatollah and DJ Premier (his rhythm for "My Friend" is curious and wacky), and not surprisingly, there are more samples in the two Premier beats than in the rest of the album.

 Royce proves he's a good lyricist, fighting a battle he can't win against his product's mainstream trend, ringing solid lyrics and unleashing hardcore rap that sounds too soft. The cumbersome album struggles to move forward and quickly becomes boring and generic. The pearl in the mud is "Boom", one of the best rhythms of the year and of the post-shiny-suit period, the signature is of Christopher Martin, one of the best ever behind keyboards: haunting clock ticking, then a loop of a few seconds emerges from nowhere, sensational strings from Marc Hannibal's "Forever Is a Long, Long, Time", an authentic masterpiece. Royce accompanies the beat with adlibs, then superlatively attacks and delivers a perfect, excellent cut, with confident flow, inspired, smooth, awesome, he sounds fresh, at its best ever. 6/10.