Royce Da 5’9”: Once I get a beat from him, and if I get in and there's scratching on it
It's not like a skeleton, then I know it's on.
That's like my cue to clear the schedule.
‘Preme is ready.
DJ Premiere: This is the first group I've been in since Gangstarr
because I really don't want to be in any other groups.
The fact that it's Royce, it was just like, "Yeah, I'll be in a group with him."
DJ Premiere: Everything is experimentation for me.
That one I was just messing around because it was the first PRhyme approach for the new album.
Royce Da 5’9”: What I was thinking to do lyrically is just try to blend eras together.
I wanted to have elements of vintage MC shit, vintage hip hop feel and then, you know up-to-dated executions.
I think one of the things that's missing in today's era,
people are afraid to give props where it's due.
People are afraid to pay homage, unless they see other people doing it first.
I always try to pay homage and show respect whenever I can and whenever I feel that it's due.
Yo, I grew up in pretty much an army household.
My dad, he went to the Marines and he raised us like pitbulls.
I grew up as a bleach person.
If he can't come in and smell out loud bleach, it ain't clean.
So now I barely use bleach 'cause I'm just scarred from my childhood,
and having to clean up so much shit.
I was thinking to myself that I wanted to say, "Weed like the Quran, burn it you can get stoned."
I can't start the verse off with this because I just love ...
I need to figure out something to set this up.
So, "I'm feeling like a don on a permanent throne."
‘Cause I don't feel like the don on a permanent throne,
but "weed like the Koran, burn it, you can get it stoned," make it sound kinda fresh.
And at this point it's just me trying to match every single syllable sound in the line.
Some rappers will just rhyme the very ending word of each sentence.
It's not challenging enough for me.
“Best to ever put breaths on a measure, metronoming the loop."
I don't know how I came up with that shit, but that's pretty awesome.
DJ Premiere: Royce approached it in two ways.
For one, for live shows because we can do "Can I rock it" and have the crowd do that.
And honestly there's older people that when you say, "Can I kick it," everybody knows,
"Yes, you can," as the reply from A Tribe Called Quest's 'Can I Kick It.'
It's a double usage.
When Dipset split up, that was a big loss to hip hop.
Whatever that was that caused them to go that long period of time without making music,
that was something hip hop didn't need.
We didn't need that.
The Azealia Banks line was just me just kinda being funny, just being funny.
I don't really know what it is that she does, but I am glad that she exists,
so I definitely meant no disrespect.
I wasn't disappointed when she got off Twitter because there's been plenty of moments where
I've been like, "Somebody come get this lady's phone, please."
My wife's seen Ashanti and Kelly Rowland, like come on man.
She got a crush on Rihanna just like I got a crush on Rihanna and she's heterosexual.
Who don't like Ashanti and Kelly Rowland?
My history with drinking, and a lot of the decisions that I made being an addict with money,
and when I got in my worst and I decided to quit.
Looking at everything in retrospect, a lot of the decisions that I made, had I not made
those decisions, I probably could've retired him.
That's one of the regrets I have that kind of hangs over my head.
So, it's kind of like one of the things that's just in my mind, "Yo, I gotta get this done.
I gotta get this done.”
I've had moments where I've felt like, “Nobody could fuck with me.
It's impossible.”
That's why it's really important for MCs or just artists, creatives in general,
just to keep their spirits up.
It's about getting mentally getting yourself to that place where you feel like you can
move a mountain with your brain.