Royce listens to 42 Dugg, Kash Doll, Babyface Ray and Boldy James and talks about why Detroit rap is different.
The Detroit veteran appears to be very well informed about Detroit’s contemporary scene, and he finds good words about every artist presented in this segment. Even when he personally is not entirely on board with what artists are doing, he remains respectful and finds positive aspects of their creativity. Royce must be an incredible mentor.
42 Dugg: He personifies a very common voice in the community even he stands out like a motherfucker. I think the universe is always going to show favour to him because he’s not pandering to anybody. He’s being himself, he hasn’t made any desperate moves to go be friendly with somebody. He is being Detroit as fuck. And people gravitate to him.
Kash Doll: That’s my baby. I love her. She can do no wrong. She’s her. Super consistent. Never heard anything that I needed to criticise. I think once Kash Doll starts releasing her albums, people will be able to appreciate her lyricism a lot more.
BabyTron: I like this kid. He’s just been at my studio recently. I felt like I met a little baby. This kid looks so young. I like what he’s sonically, the direction that he’s going. I’m not really with the whole rapping offbeat on purpose thing. I can’t listen to it. That shit is like nails across the chalkboard for me. But I like the fact that they’re trying to do something different. What he’s trying to do, I don’t even know hat that evolves from. When you hear really young guys thinking like that, that means somebody’s deciding they want to go their own way. And that’s greatness in the making.
Boldy James: Boldy is one of the best rappers in Detroit right now, for sure. I know Boldy personally, and I know that he can do this shit standing on his hands, so he wasn’t really focused for a long time. You know, one foot in the streets, one foot out. And he just decided to make a commitment. And the universe responds to that when you commit, when you decide.
Babyface Ray: I fuck with him and his movement real tough, but he’s always been focused. That’s not a Detroit sound. That’s just him. That’s just some laid back G shit.
Veeze: It’s a few spots where he had just fall out of the pocket a little bit, but I love his approach.
Summarising his assessment, Royce talks about how special the Detroit scene is:
They are all different from each other. But we’ve always been like that, tons of moving parts all going at the same time.
Royce went through the artists’ list again, finding new ways to show them love, but the one he cosigned was the only artist he was not familiar with before — Veeze.
I never heard of Veeze, and I love the song. I’m actually going to listen to it again. And I don’t think he had somebody like me in mind when he was making it, which makes it even doper. Sout out to you. Keep doing your thing, lil homie. I’m sure we’ll probably bump into each other at some point.
To finish, Royce talked a little bit about his studio and how he gets younger rapper involved and supported, making the Detroit scene more cohesive:
I’ve got a studio. I’ve been over here for about five years now. It’s called Heaven studios. It’s a great commonplace for myself and especially younger artists to come through and get supported and get embraced the proper way, the way they deserve to be. I’m proud of that because that means I get to break a generational curse in Detroit among artists going from generation to generation. It’s always a pleasure to be able to do that.
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