Royce did not expect to get nominated and learned the news from Joyner Lucas, who was the first to reach out to him.

A local Detroit news outlet contacted Royce to get a comment from the nominee and Royce admitted that he was taken by surprise, he didn’t even know Grammy nominations were due out Tuesday:

I was shocked. It was by far the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. It’s surreal. I’m still taking it in. Somebody needs to pinch me. I feel like someone’s going to come and say ‘nah, psyche, we’re just kidding.

Royce, however pride he is, does not bank his career success on this particular award and does not hold his breath awaiting a victory:

Of course, I want to win. But I’m not gonna bang my head against the wall if I don’t. I don’t pretend like I’m not used to being overlooked in this type of scenario. I look at it like it’s a win already. One of the things about it is I really respect everybody that’s in the category with me, so a loss is not a loss. A loss is still a win, for the culture.

Many Royce’s friends, former bandmates and other players of the game celebrate Royce’s first Grammy nomination in his over 20-years long career. His phone cannot stop ringing and everybody around him, he says, “is beaming with pride”. Some of this pride and joy has overflown to social media.

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