Royce Da 5'9 & DJ Premier's "PRhyme": Why You Should Be Excited

It seems Royce Da 5'9 is taking it to the next level with this one. Earlier this week a short video surfaced of DJ Premier joining alongside Royce rapping in a video over what you could only assume was some choice Premo production. People of the internet were rather excited about what this could possibly mean, but since then no further details were released...until now.

PRhyme is going to be a full length Royce Da 5'9 LP with DJ Premier taking the reigns handling production. It's hard to tell where Premo is going to take the production with on this one, whether or not he chooses to sample certain artists or keep the sampling to a minimum. He did have this to say about the album recently; "I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity. I wanted it to be my traditional thing where I sample everything I find, but I am really proud of how the project came out and Royce is one hell of a pusher."  From the sounds of this it seems there is a minimum of sampling from Premo, but time will tell what we see in terms of production on the album.

PRhyme will boast some MONSTER features, however. It is confirmed that the project will feature Dwele, Killer Mike, Common, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, Mac Miller, of course his fellow group mates Slaughterhouse, and Royce and Premo even managed to grab Jay Electronica for a feature. Are you excited yet?!  PRhyme has not been given a release date yet, but is rumored to be put out before the end of the year.

The route the Slaughterhouse members have been taking for their music releases has been an interesting one to say the least. Crooked I's last release Apex Predator was put out about halfway through last year, Joell Ortiz's House Slippers saw a release a bit more than a week ago, while Joe Budden has plans for his EP Some Love Lost in November and the release date for the album All Love Lost has yet to be determined.

Being that it is almost October already, so far it seems like these releases from Joe and Royce will spill into next year, while Slaughterhouse as a whole will supposedly be featured on the anniversary project Shady XV and also have their album Glass House coming (no release date given) as well. So far it seems next year will be a very exciting year for Slaughterhouse and Shady fans alike, but all you can do now is wait. Check out the teaser video for Royce and Premo's PRhyme below.

              (*I do not own this video, or the rights to it, Royce Da 5'9, DJ Premier, or PRhyme*)











                  

Less is More: Why Musicians (Rappers) MAY Put Less Songs On Albums/Mixtapes (My Theory)

In a hip hop world where mix tapes seem to run the mill of the music nowadays, from a rapper's perspective, this is the last thing they could ask for. As an artist surviving solely on the sales of your music, I ask what is the point of releasing free music?  Well, as fans lets try to figure this out. Do we really even appreciate music how we're supposed to anymore?

Being the unique style of music that hip hop is, generally speaking, its hard to find another genre that puts out as much free music on a regular basis. Somehow mix tapes have found a way to not only be the rise of artists, but also the fall of them at the same time. However you may see it, or better yet, how the artists may see it, certainly changes the strategy of being a successful artist. My mindset on being a rapper, with multiple views of course, follows: "watch out for the mix tape coming soon, with the album coming at the end of the year." This strategy, if you notice the marketing, can definitely help. Giving your fans a sample or a gift for being patient and waiting, or just being nice and saying thank you are reasonable explanations for this strategy. Building hype for yourself is not a bad thing to do, unless of course, your expectations aren't met. But whose expectations?  The fans of course!

The second strategy is much more simple, less work involved and usually is the strategy used by the biggest artists in the game, or the ones who have nothing to prove to you, if you needed to be blunt about it. Nonetheless, still an effective strategy if you've proven yourself, an example of a statement here: "look out for the album coming at the end of the year." That's all it is. Simple, effective, a very easy way to make your fans mad of course, but if it's worth the wait, it's worth the wait. Only the biggest superstars can resort to this strategy successfully. The likes of Eminem, Lil Wayne, Drake, Kanye, Jay-Z and Nas are really the only immediate rappers that come to mind when you think of  rappers having no reason to release a mix tape. In a sense, they have nothing to prove, and putting out free music can only hurt their reputation as an artist, or what they stand for.

I mention artists who do and do not do mix tapes because they are almost two completely different types of artists. The ones who sell records don't normally touch the free music idea, and the ones who do mix tapes normally either just do them for fun, or build up excitement around an important project. With albums it's always been known as a completely different story, every artist has their own approach to recording and song selection. An album will most likely have a theme or a story backing it up, while a mix tape will just be a collection of random songs recorded with no specific goal or theme. But, as things stand today, many people view no single song worth being paid for when you can download any album, let alone any song you want from an album.


So why is it music listeners today are so picky?  I believe it is because we have the choice to be. We very easily and almost unnoticeably take our favorite artists' music for granted, and get bored much quicker and easier than we should. The attention span of today's class of fans is much smaller because of the easy access to any and all music. With downloading, although it seems harmless to the average fan, it can hurt an artist heavily. Money is made when they sell their music; albums, singles, no matter what it may be, hard copy or digital. Our getting free music is a blessing to us, yes, but does not define being a true music fan. Buying an album you get a story, with real artists you're buying a piece of their life or how they felt at a time, you're buying someone's feelings that lie inside their head. You're buying someone's ideas, someone's pain brought into light. Does this sound like something you'd give away for free?  We'll end this discussion with Eminem venting his frustrations with these people.

     



(*Disclaimer: I do not own this video, nor do I own the rights to it*)