Royce Da 5'9" - The Allegory | Album review

 

al·le·go·ry

 /ˈaləˌɡôrē/

 noun

1. a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

    Royce Da 5’9” chimes in on America’s both best and worst kept secrets with his eighth album release. Tracks like “Black Savages”, “Overcomer”, “I Don’t Age”, and “Upside Down” all were used as singles, or released songs to show a very direct peek into where Royce was going to take the consumers. I’ve been saying over that last year or so that Royce has been tapping into the more “mature” version of “Bad Meets Evil” counterpart Eminem, and this album may prove that point. “The Book of Ryan” Royce’s previous album was a masterpiece. It was riveting; it has top-tier lyricism, vivid story-telling, and the core and guts of everything hip-hop is supposed to be. Quite frankly I was doubtful Royce, or anyone for that matter, would be able top the importance and execution of his memoir themed album. I prepped myself; I tried to lower my expectations as much as I could, even after hearing “Upside Down” a week before the album’s release. I was eager, I was nervous, but I was ready.

    The Allegory, starts with an intense father-son dialogue, which immediately brought me back to the assignment Royce’s son was trying to finish by writing about his inspiring figures, I’ll explain why later. In the previous album’s skit skit titled “Who are you?” Royce’s son states;

“The objective of the paper is to go in depths about the figure in our lives that we find inspiring, the one we look up to. I wanted to do mines about you. I remember the title I had for it and I was—I was thinking of calling it, The Book of Ryan. I was kinda sitting and trying to get in the first paragraph and I started to realize how difficult it is to write

How can I write the paper of my father when I don't know who he is? So I guess the first question is, "Who are you?" - Genius

    “Mr. Grace” the intro track, involves a father quizzing his son on the things they do not teach you in school, with important perspectives on life, values, morals, and being able to foreshadow what may become required assets. Such as, how to say “Bartering System” in Spanish. “If I gave you a million dollars would you buy candy, or a candy store?” the child responds “A candy store”. The importance of knowing the value of ownership, property, and being a seller opposed to a buyer are things that are easily lost in America’s social subliminal message. The father asks his son “If I celebrate every holiday and birthday but you have to beg for a job at 18, what have I done for you?” his son replies “failed me financially.” That sent a shiver down my spine. This feels like the conversations Royce maybe missed out on during his son’s upbringing which lead his son to ask him “Who are you?”. Royce follows up the dialogue with some well-laced spoken word. Fuck he can rap, like, he can rap, rap. Rhyming “slavery law” with “period”, and expressing his stance and perspective on what has happened to his people, and what his people continue to accept, all much to his disapproval. This album feels powerful already.

Royce then hops right into some traditional hip-hop cuts with “Dope Man” followed by aforementioned “I Don’t Age” both riddled with drug references from both a personal connection to a drug dealing lifestyle p.o.v. and the hypocrisy of the United States Government putting drugs in the streets, and then arresting Royce for dealing the same thing they placed in his environment. Royce ties up a nice braggadocios scheme, by saying “Ya’ll N****’s always sleeping, I rather stay woke. They say you are what you eat, but I never ate G.O.A.T.” during “I Don’t Age”.

Pendulum comes in with some very grimy cords and powerful drum pattern. A nice use of a sample, of a man saying “as the lord swings, the pendulum, ‘round and ‘round”. This track features Ashley Sorrell, which is her first of three brilliant appearances on the album. Ashley and Royce tackle the peculiar behavior in the music industry. Out of context it may feel like this spits in the wind of Royce’s bigger point, but I think it nicely portrays the fuckery (for lack of a better word) going on between labels and artists, and the behavior of artists themselves. Creative word-play on fellow rapper, Tekashi 6ix-9ine’s legal situation and name;

“This bitch that's with me now, all she like to do is kiss and sixty-nine

All she gets is time, shit, I ain't signed to TreyWay

Now, I'm falling in a downward spiral” – Genius

This song also offers a haunting chorus repeating “We Gon’ rob the rich, and leave ‘em with the Fucking bill” sounds more like a protest chant then a chorus, but still effective messaging.

“I Play Forever” is a track I could do without. The beat is… wait… I forgot to mention Royce produced every song on this album, which is very rare and impressive, and he did 20 of the 22 tracks by himself. Royce has complete creative control for a very conceptual and message driven album. Back to the beat; it’s melodic and well executed, but just isn’t the typical sound I enjoy with my ear. Grafh’s verse on this was mediocre, Royce displayed some wild syllable rhyming here with;

“School of hard knocks, all I did 'round the clock was doo-doo

On the block all day and night like a prostitute do

Every artist out there y'all like on the charts are doo-doo

I'm from where thots'll convolute you, the cops are cuckoo

Charge you, try you and prosecute you, if not, just shoot you” - Genius.com

And he kept the rhyme pattern going.

“Knock off your whole tribe with the chopper like Shaka Zulu

Chef the impossible, opposite pyrex pots are voodoo

Block magician, I chop a brick to a pasta noodle

Fuck the charts, I roll out, I swapped the old out and copped the new-new

This is my possible moment of truth, shouts to Guru

Cocked the Glock, let it do the do like cock-a-doo-doo

Hospital, nah, growin' up only doctor you knew

Was Dr. Dre, Dr. Jay, and maybe that Dr. Drew dude” - Genius.com

 

 Royce then lost me with his use of “Outkast’s” – “forever, ever ever?-(dog)” over and over again, I just felt beat in the head by this one.

A very cancel culture method skit applied to an ice cream man, who was put in his place by a mother purchasing ice cream for her son. She tests the driver’s knowledge on the origin and history of the “Ice cream truck song”. She informs him that the song we all know, was actually a racist song titled “N***** love a watermelon” in 1916, while blaming him for being ignorant enough to continue to play the song for all these 100+ years. The ice cream man turns the tables by pointing out she has some overly sexual username on Tinder (I took away the point that people are so quick to judge others with some string of intellect, yet sell themselves short subconsciously in other areas of their life)

 “On The Block” brings back Royce’s “PRHYME” partner DJ Premier. This track has some nice wordplay’s and punch lines and a silky smooth delivery. “We got primo on the cuts, we got pino in the cups”. This track has a true DJ feel with the scratching and cutting of samples and vocals. Oswin Benjamin sounds nice over this track. Both hopped from flow to flow effortlessly, easy on the ears, this track has purpose on a Royce project.

“Overcomer” is a really well done instrumental; Royce was great on this song. I just can’t get into Westside Gunn, I know he has staying power and Griselda represents a lot of people’s truth I just don’t connect with his story, his lyrics, and I can’t even start to pretend to enjoy his voice. Yelawolf falls victim to Royce’s very direct target on this track. Royce speaks with so much conviction, he’s believable, what he says feels like; it’s just the sentence before the action occurs.

     “Ms. Grace” is a similar quizzing by their father from the intro. This time he quizzes his daughter on what kind of ammunition round she is holding at the moment before changing it and asking again. “Who’s coming to save you?” asks the father, “Nobody, I have to save myself” his daughter replies. The skits, especially the father-to-child ones are chilling and bring awareness to the information our kids probably don’t have… and should, they absolutely should. Including how many people are on the registered sex-offender list, and for our young women to grow up knowing they can “never become someone’s bitch or hoe.”

     Nickle wrangles in his younger brother Kid Vishis for a track titled “Thou Shall” which is layered with threatening gun bars, bravado that let’s radio stations know they don’t need them, and lets you other rappers know they are not impressed. “Your shit is garbage, you couldn’t make a classic out of that trash if you had Brenda drop it.” referencing 2Pac’s classic track “Brenda’s got a baby” where a woman leaves her baby in a dumpster.

 “FUBU” calls in on the 2nd third of Griselda, Conway the Machine. Conway flows extremely well, so well, it surprised me to hear him ease over this dark melody so smoothly. Conway’s verse is filled with very Griselda subject matter. For those that haven’t consumed Griselda material, they are very street subjects, reminiscent to D-Block/Wu-Tang. Not typically my thing. Royce had rhymes on a yo-yo with his verse and exposes the fact that his son has autism, which he believe was caused by immunization injections. Not quite an anti-vaxxer preaching sentiment, but possibly to spread awareness about the lack of information we have as to what is happening when the vaccines are being pushed into our children.

This track is followed by a damning interlude, where you hear the voice of a man saying how much he dislikes black people with juvenile insults, and then points out a box of Jordan sneakers as being a black man’s “favorite shoe” and then fires a gun at the sneakers to show what he thinks of black people. Haunting and terrifying that people like this still exist, or even ever did in the first place. I’m not out of touch enough to think that racism is dead, I actually believe it is worse now but something about this skit just struck a nerve.

 The skit plays sequentially nicely right into “Upside Down” which was my favorite song to be released prior to the albums release. Ashley Sorrell absolutely kills her verse, so elegantly. Using the cadence of Susanne Vega’s – “Tom’s Diner”, she challenges your integrity with this daunting and bone-chilling voice. Effortless, this whole song feels effortless but it is executed perfectly to a T. Benny the Butcher rounds out the Griselda features, and has my favorite Griselda feature on the album. I just think he’s a better lyricist then Conway or Westside. Royce challenges you to look up the history of Sarah Baartman, and how “black women” are guilty of trying to modify their bodies to resemble Sarah’s, despite how she was portrayed and dehumanized for her physical appearance.

 Eminem expresses almost perfectly what it’s like to be a white hip-hop artist, while also sympathetically explaining the frustration black people must feel knowing that white people have stolen basically all forms of music. Stating that every action figure, super hero, everything on t.v. was white, and how that inevitably and naturally would develop a chip on your shoulder, not being recognized, or being able to identify with anything. He also iterates that we do not choose our color, race, or parents and all we can do is try to make a difference.

 Former fellow Slaughterhouse member KXNG Crooked joins his counterpart Royce on a song called “Tricked”. Royce drops some insight on both the state of society and the music business. Really well executed multi-syllable rhyming “We’ve been tricked into thinking that the art, is a pie to be split. My N**** that’s a farce, it’s a lie, we’ve been tricked.” Crooked touches on the prison system, and how it’s all like a magic trick. “The owners of them prisons are magicians; that’s a trick, Whoa-lah, disappearing in the system, that’s a trick.” Great rhyming, message, wordplay by both on this, and the beat is so sharp. An early favorite for me.

    “Black People In America’ is an interlude that leads into lead single “Black Savages” Akon talks on the skit about the lies people have been told to try and keep black people from returning back to Africa because of the value they bring to America. “Black Savages” offers a well done pro-black anthem, explaining simply if you tell us to go back where we came from, we’ll just take back everything you stole from us. Chorus is well done, instrumental and vocals are uplifting. A great notch on the belt of what I feel like this album is projecting.

    “Rhinestone Doo Rag” is a very poetic and introspective look as sacrifices the ones before have given, so the future generations won’t have to. Royce, in a witty reference, explains that he once wore a rhinestone doo rag, so that future rappers never will again. It has very serious messaging here though as well, including his sincere wishes for Tee Grizzly, and how he hates watching Eminem respond to things he shouldn’t. Also goes on to say that our “commander and chief is more like demander-and-thief.” Saying that he can’t be “under the thumb” of someone that is physically attracted to his own daughter.

    “Young World” is a song I wish Royce left features off of. Royce snap’s on his verse talking about his time being homeless staying with Dr. Dre, what he wishes for George Zimmerman, supported his friends until they burned him, and just pleads to have trump to stop tweeting and to send a plumber to Flint, Mi.

 “My People free” is another ear-worm provided by Ashley Sorrell, sampling the classic “ring, ding, dong, ring da ding ding ding dong” and pouring her pleasant vocals into every pocket of this beat. This has Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu feels, but is very much Ashley Sorrell doing what Ashley Sorrell does. Royce harmonizes some nice bridge vocals. This song is just about spiritually, mentally, and physically being free. Royce then explains why the people you think are real are not, and the ones you never heard of could be the realest guys you’d ever meet. And how the system gave his friend 3-5 years for marijuana related charges, just to go and legalize it. Royce uses the outro on this track to thank and shout out to all the people he was influenced by, or he believes are making a difference.

“Hero” featuring White Gold is the last song on the album. This is the perfect ending to this album. It all makes sense now, this album isn’t just a pro-black album, its also a family moment. “Hero” is a song dedicated to his father, and how the issues Royce addressed on “Book of Ryan” should have been talked about with his father as opposed to the public. He shows the world the really good relationship his father himself has, despite issues in the past.

 

The Allegory…It’s about growth, understanding right and wrong, it’s about standing up for yourself, despite how uncomfortable your truth may be for others. The message of this album is more for expressing your feeling on things, even if it isn’t what/who you’re reacting to isn’t comfortable with your discomfort. What did it say up top… “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.” The political and pro-black, black culture talking points and material does exist on this album and that’s evident. I think the hidden meaning is the dynamic of teaching the youth, healing your past, speaking your truth, be a leader not just at work, your family, or your community; but for yourself. Who’s coming to save you? “Nobody, I have to save myself”.  

 

The beats on this were really well done, out of 22 tracks I could not expect to enjoy every single one. The skits on this album play a very important role of continuing the education and examples being portrayed by this album. The father-to-child skits are perfect. Rhymes were impeccable, and Royce did not disappoint at all with this follow up to “The Book of Ryan”. I will forever link these two albums together, my personal opinion is, one is meant to open up about and grow from, and the other is to teach what you’ve learned. Even the subtle details on the album cover; “brain wash and control” written upside down on the bill, “debt is for the poor, credit is for the rich” and “This note is known to divide and kill society”

I RATE THIS ALBUM 1-10:

9.3

it’s everything you want from a a hip-hop album, it’s real, it’s art, its meaningful. Some feature verses seem to get in the way of Royce’s pointed direction, but I believe this is all about acknowledging and presenting your life, your truth.

 

FAVORITE TRACKS: Upside Down, Tricked, Hero, Perspective, My People Free, Mr. Grace, Ms. Grace.