Happy Born Day to Detroit eMCee Royce Da 5'9. Respected for his lyricism and more recently for the depth of his narratives and OG perspectives, Royce is easily one of your favorite rapper's favorite rappers. Surely many fans were first introduced to his music through Eminem - I remember hearing him on Eclipse's Halftime Show - but he's always been an artist who stood on his own two, and for me, it was the track "King of Kings" that captured my attention. I remember the day I heard it... the sample "I wake up and I don't know where I am" related to a personal experience I'd had, and that made the record stand out more to me, aside from him killin' it. While Royce and I have never met, we have exchanged a couple messages (texts, emails) over the years, and he's always struck me as a very loyal and humble dude. In my opinion, he's released some of his best music in the last few years - from the song "Tabernacle" on Layers, to PRhyme; the Book of Ryan, and most recently, The Allegory... his music has been an integral part of pushing the culture forward and making sure that our legends grow in their music and offer new perspectives. Below is a playlist of some of my favorite Royce records... it's not a "best of" or a comprehensive playlist by any means - it's just my favorites, which I hope you'll enjoy, too. I hope to meet Royce face-to-face one day, so I can tell him how I appreciate his contributions and that his music definitely inspires me. Salute!