“We’re living in a society today in Hip Hop where it’s very, very easy for artists to throw stones and hide their hands,” Royce Da 5’9 says. “There’s a lot of different avenues for them to do that.”
Shortly after the release of the Eminem and Shady Records’ compilation album Shady XV last month, Odd Future lyricist Tyler The Creator took to Twitter to offer his thoughts on the effort, calling it “fucking ASS.”
“I love you Marshall, you are my favorite rapper but dude ShadyXV is fucking ASS hahaha why wont someone who loves him tell him NO,” Tyler said in a tweet that was later deleted.
During a newly released interview with VladTV, long-time Eminem collaborator and Bad Meets Evil rapper Royce Da 5’9 offered his thoughts on Tyler The Creator’s remarks.
“I don’t really have much of a take on it,” Royce Da 5’9 says. “What can you say? He said his opinion. It’s the kid’s opinion and what am I gonna do? Get mad at him? We’re living in that era now, man. That’s like I go over to a girl house that I’m trying to smash and her little kid [or] little baby brother is in there and he’s like, ‘You smell like marijuana!’ And everybody laugh because it’s the little kid and he’s saying something crazy. And everybody cares because it’s the little kid with the voice. That’s kind of how it is, man. I don’t care, man. What am I gon’ do about that?
“Em will probably never find out about that,” Royce Da 5’9 continues. “That’s the thing about it. These people use their platform to say certain things and to do certain things. We’re living in a society today in Hip Hop where it’s very, very easy for artists to throw stones and hide their hands. There’s a lot of different avenues for them to do that. You can hide behind the various media outlets and stuff. You know where people dwell, you know who’s gonna hear about it [and] who’s not gon’ hear about it. It’s that type of thing.”
Royce Da 5’9 later recalls his last meeting with the Ladera Heights, California rapper and subsequently states that he’s not offended by what Tyler had to say.
“The last time I seen Tyler The Creator, those guys were running around the dressing room with fucking capes and shit on… It just felt like we were in the room with some fun kids. And that’s really how I look at them. I’m not about to start getting offended by everything he said or anything like that. If the kid got his opinion, he got his opinion. It’s just what it is.”
Royce Da 5’9 affirmed that Eminem worked just as hard on Shady XV as he did on his previous efforts.
“Whatever your favorite [Eminem] music is, be it Relapse, The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show, the same amount of time he spent on that music, and the same amount of passion and effort and how dear to his heart he holds that music, he holds Shady XV,” Royce Da 5’9 explains. “He worked just as hard on Shady XV. [If] you talk about one body of work, you may as well be talking about the rest of the shit.”
Royce Da 5’9’s full interview with VladTV, where he is also joined by DJ Premier and Adrian Younge, can be viewed below:
