Moment Of Truth: PRhyme Talks Raising The Bar - Page 2

December 9, 2014, is a day that should live in Hip-Hop memorabilia. Not since June 18, a year prior, has a single date been packed with so many promising albums. Among the releases is PRhyme, a self-titled collaborative project by super duo, DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9”.

Practicing quality over quantity, PRhyme dons a scant 9-tracks. Each record, however is jam packed with intricate wordplay and stories from Royce, the latter of which serve as catharsis for a man fighting his demons. There’s also production from the immovable force that is Premo, one-half of Gang Starr and a beatsmith some debate is the best to ever do it. The nuance that drives this LP is budding producer Adrian Younge, who had no involvement in the creation other than lending his personal catalog of original music as source material. The end result is a body of work that manages to have Premier’s unique fingerprint, while featuring an entirely fresh sound simultaneously.

Hip-Hop Wired had an opportunity to speak with Premier and Royce about their creation process, why the Detroit rapper was apprehensive of the hard-hitting cut “U Looz,” and where they feel PRhyme ranks among the best collaborative Hip-Hop albums of all time.

Find the full stream, featuring guest appearances from Common, Jay Electronica, ScHoolboy Q, Killer Mike, Mac Miller and more, on the next page along with more from the interview.

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Photo: YouTube

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Hip-Hop Wired: I read that this project was initially set to feature all of Slaughterhouse, but was using Adrian Younge’s music as source material always in the plans?

DJ Premier: Mike Heraun from Shady Records envisioned the idea. Because Slaughterhouse was actually working on their album and they were about to drop a mixtape, Heraun thought this could stall it, because they pushed back the album. And this has not been done.

Hip-Hop Wired: Royce, could you elaborate on what you said in regards to the music industry affecting artists’ confidence?

Royce Da 5’9’’: I was saying that the industry is kind of designed to take your confidence away from you. You deal with a lot of criticism, that’s why it’s really good as an artist to keep everything in house. But once you hand it to the fans, it’s theirs. They can have it, they can dissect it, they can do whatever they feel like doing with it.

It’s a process where you can keep your wits about you, and not get broken down by reading a bunch of crazy comments, because you never know who’s just trolling. That’s one of the benefits of working with one producer.

I also live in Detroit and everything is pretty much done over the phone between me and Preme, or me and Preme and Adrian [Younge] late at night. If I’m not sending files, we’re together.

Hip-Hop Wired: Now, let’s get to “U Looz.” Royce, how could you dislike such a hard instrumental?

Royce Da 5’9”: Well I didn’t didn’t dislike it. Let me clarify that.

DJ Premier: Yea, I went too far when I said that in early interviews.

Hip-Hop Wired: Then what exactly made you hesitant about the song?

Royce Da 5’9”: I made one of those mistakes as a writer, where at the end of your first verse, your last line sounds like the line that’s closing the song out. I didn’t realize what I’d done at that moment, so I was unable to come up with anything that sounded good after that line: “This is for my real Hip Hop ni**as who would never ever ask me if I’m here to replace Guru.”

At that moment, it didn’t dawn on me that I should move that line to the end of third verse. Maybe I had babies crying in my ear or some sh*t [Royce is a new father, once again]. I called Preme and said, “I can’t think of nothing else to this. Maybe you should send me something else.” My plan was to move on to a new record, because that was only the second song we recorded.

I had a vision in my mind of a project so off the chain sonically that I didn’t know what to expect. I was probably more critical of what I should have been from a sonic perspective and from the perspective of my lyrics. Sometimes as artist you need that opinion, that validation, from who you’re working with. I always love the beat, but in this case I was a little unsure about the rap.

Hip-Hop Wired: The list of features on this project is crazy. How did you go about selecting guests?

Royce Da 5’9”: It started off with me being a fan and having a mutual respect for those guys. Common was a bucket list situation; it had to happen at some point before I was done with this journey. It’s a feel thing.

Hip-Hop Wired: December 9th is a loaded release date, and quite possibly the best we’ve seen since June 2013, when Kanye West, J. Cole, etc. released. Where do you think the PRhyme album will stand among it’s competition?

Royce Da 5’9”: It’s definitely nothing else like it. Cole may be the closest thing to it, because he shows a lot of similarities from the golden era of Hip Hop; he’s definitely that breath of fresh air. Ghostface, you already know. Wayne is going to do something new [at the time of the interview, Wayne’s Tha Carter 5 had yet to be thrust into album release purgatory]. He’s always pushing the envelope, creatively.

I think all in all, it’s definitely going to be a great day for us, because it’s going to drive fans into the store and iTunes. I don’t even look at it too much of a competitive thing. We’ve carved out our own lane with what we do, and we’re gonna move.

Hip-Hop Wired: What about you Premo? From a sonic perspective, how do you think the project stands up versus others releasing that day?

DJ Premier: Anything that we do is for the betterment of the culture. The main this is how it’s pushed and what market you’re aiming it at. We have a great marketing team with In Grooves, and they’re doing their job very well. Royce, Adrian, and myself are good at social media; we man our own Twitter and Instagam pages. That’s me responding.

We understand what works for us, and that ties into what makes the album be just as powerful when it releases. We’re confident on how to last in the industry because of our experiences. We also focused on feeding our core audience, because that’s who’s paid us for our entire careers.

Hip-Hop Wired: HHW recently did a story on the greatest collaborative albums of all time, inspired by the announcement of PRhyme. Where would you rank your project on said list?

Royce Da 5’9”: Number one.

DJ Premier: Number one.