DJ Premier and Royce da 5’9 announced their collaborative project, PRhyme, last month, and the two hip-hop veterans previewed the album for a small group of friends at 320 Studios in Manhattan last night; sharing anecdotes about the project and their careers. With the talent involved, PRhyme is understandably highly-anticipated among underground hip-hop heads, and the duo does not disappoint. Working with samples from Adrian Younge’s acclaimed catalog, Primo provides outstanding sonic backdrops for Royce’s rhyming, which is in top form here.
Among the standout tracks is “Wishing,” a three-part epic that features Common and, according to Primo and Royce, would’ve also included Black Thought. The Roots rhymer was unable to take part in the recording, despite having sent in a rough demo of his verse, due to the death of The Roots’ manager, Rich Nichols, earlier this year. Both Primo and Royce expressed their understanding of Thought’s bereavement while also indicating that he may wind up on a remix of the powerful track somewhere down the road.
The Dwele-assisted “U Should Know” is another album highlight, with Royce on rare form over the stellar production. Even Primo mused as to how exactly Royce was able to get the always-elusive Jay Electronica to appear on the banger “To Me, To You” (“He lives on another planet and planes don’t go there,” joked Premier), and the Nawlins emcee is his typical brilliant self in the all too rare guest appearance. Royce’s Slaughterhouse bandmates make an appearance on the closer “Microphone Preem.”
Primo shared stories regarding the most meticulous emcees he’s recorded with (Jay Z, one may expect, is fairly obsessive about people understanding his lyrics. Incidentally, so is the Lady of Rage, according to Premier); and also reminisced about his early label rejections and how he wound up joining the late Guru in GangStarr. Royce praised collaborators like Electronica and Common, and gave a shout out to Atlanta rap guru Killer Mike, who appears on the track “Underground Kings” with Schoolboy Q.
“He never worried about appeasing radio,” Royce explained. “And he found his lane and was successful at it. And that’s the message. That’s what you do this for.”
PRHYME is set to be released Dec. 9.
