Guests like Dave East and Roc Marciano mostly avoid these challenges by opting for straightforward revivalism, a significantly safer mode. This is a 40-year-old who’s shameless enough to drop the line “I am the absolute shit/I actually speak latrine” (on the otherwise good “Sunflower Seeds”), which belongs in a category that Lil Wayne exhausted a decade ago. It’s the second triple pun in two songs and, throughout the record, Royce comes across as the kind of rapper who thinks that this alone should earn him five mics from The Source. His already not-great verse on “Era” is interrupted by a semi-functional triple pun that involves XXXTentacion. “Loved Ones” is a fantastic duet between Royce and the North Carolina rapper Rapsody, in the tradition of Biggie and Lil’ Kim on “Another” or Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek on “Coming of Age.”īut much of the time, Royce spins his wheels, hurls retrograde insults at foes, or performs lyrical tricks for a small audience. His long experience in the industry allows for an incredible depth of texture, replete with echoes of JAY-Z, Snoop, Tribe, and Camp Lo. In this LP’s best moments, like the opener “Black History,” Premo laces him with a rich tapestry through which Royce weaves compelling narrative threads. The contrast between Budden and Yachty provides a helpful way of understanding Royce’s struggles throughout the record: Sometimes, the veteran Detroit rapper transcends his natural Buddenism, avoiding corny punchlines, esoteric lyrical easter eggs, and bars that lead him nowhere.

If only the rest of PRhyme 2 were so generous.

In case anyone missed the point, the song is called “Everyday Struggle.” He recalls the rapper Canibus reacting poorly to Eminem’s rise, points out that time goes in circles, and concludes his verse by saying that he’s not here for villainizing the youth. On PRhyme 2, the second album he’s made with DJ Premier under their (poorly chosen) joint name, he raps that Yachty, 19 at the time of the interview, is about the same age as his son. Royce 5’9”, Budden’s sometime bandmate in the rap group Slaughterhouse, says that the encounter gave him nightmares.

Prhyme 2 zip