Out of many Royce’s interviews, he is making on his “The Allegory” promo circuit, his long conversation on “No Jumper” podcast stands out as one of the most in-depth and open.
It is well worth a listen, as all of his interviews, to be honest. He was talking about his new album, obviously, about fighting a drinking problem, about mental health, family, cheating, beefs and other topics.
He also gave a detailed account on how Eminem’s skit on “The Allegory” came to life and about why he stands up to Eminem when somebody tries to harass him about his race.
We had a long conversation on the phone one time and he said some amazing things and I just asked him if he could talk about that again. It was original but the conversation was much better. It’s hard to recreate those candid moments you know, ‘cause you know once you’re thinking, “Okay I’ma say this I’m gonna say this”, it doesn’t come across the same, even though it’s great. It’s great but he said just so many things in this conversation, I was like, “Man, I wish you could say that again. Because it goes into what I’m talking about on the album and what I’m doing with the album so much, and I don’t think that people get these human moments from you like this enough and if people knew you like I knew you, then they will understand a lot more with the music”. You know, people not feeling certain things and people just having their way that they want to hear him sound and they want to hear him rap. So he was like, “I can give it a shot”. So I sent him the music to talk over and he talked for about 12 minutes. He talked for about 12 minutes and then Paul Rosenberg kind of edited it down, you know, just so it can fit the album. When he sent it back to me, he still sent me some good pieces, but I wish people could have heard that conversation. But the skit is a reflection of that conversation.
– Is it in any way a reaction to people still trying to paint him as a racist after all these years?
– No! He did that before. That whole paint him is a racist thing, that was like a brand–new thing that just happened like right before.
– Any time Em gets into a beef though, they always try to revive that.
– Yeah, my album was turned in you know when that wasn’t even a topic of conversation. I still haven’t even talked to him about none of that stuff. But a racist is the one thing you can’t… You can’t paint him as a racist to me. You can’t even talk to me about that. I’m not somebody who’s a naive person, I’m not a naive person. I know what I know, I see what I see and if I stand for something – that’s why my integrity is so important – if I stand for something, if I stand up for someone, it’s because I either know I can enforce it or I know I’m speaking from a factual place. So there’s nothing anyone can say about Marshall in that regard to me. I moved to a city called Oak Park when I was a little kid, and the first thing that happened to me when I got there, was that the day one I got caught in work by a white kid. And you know, like just living in that two-mile radius, if I never would have started travelling and I never would have met Marshall I’m not so sure what my outlook on white people would have been. Because when you don’t travel and you don’t meet certain people, certain people don’t get put into your life, maybe you do generalise. […] A lot of people close themselves off to even be willing to change their mind, even after meeting people and speaking to them. So it’s meeting Em and some of the things that he did for me in some ways… That he wrote for me when he didn’t have to, and certain things that he did for me, and just having long conversations with him in a long-standing relationship, and the way he’s handled certain things and the way he just carries it in life. I know I’m talking to a person that’s fair. He doesn’t have to be fair! He grew up in an environment where black people used to just jump on him for no reason. Well, it was for a reason, it was because they felt like he was trying to act black. But that’s the effect that hip–hop had on white people back then long ago. Especially if you were drawn to it and you were like a historian. You know, Em is a student of the sport, man. Like, he’s a master, he’s not just a rapper, he’s a practitioner. […] Bro, I watched him get booed… All of that. It’s tough. It’s tough but he weathered that storm. And when he finally got to that point where somebody was willing to give him a shot – which is dr. Dre, – he passed him the ball and he slam-dunked. Is there some white privilege come with that? Abso-fucking-lutely! But to say he’s successful because of white privilege… Are you fucking crazy? You’re crazy! Like I said, he’s a practitioner. To be that highly-skilled… Success comes along with that. To put that much effort into something, to put that much work into something, to dedicate your life to your craft – there’s a certain level of success that comes along with that.
Watch Royce talking about Eminem below:
