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a guide to the (solo) discography of royce da 5'9" - dinokyu lyrics

i had the idea for this page a long time ago, when i revisited an old thread about aesop rock’s discography, which was about 5 months ago

so for like a week after that spent literally hours to try and dig up pretty much every solo project royce da 5’9″ has ever done, in some cases with very little success. i still found some gems that many royce fans probably don’t know though, so yesterday i randomly decided that i’d finally write this thing now

this list will contain royce’s solo projects and one old bad meets evil compilation, but i won’t actually include all the prhyme and slaughterhouse stuff or the bad meets evil album from 2011.
demo for aftermath

(that’s not actually a real, official cover by the way)
tracklist:

01 another hit
02 king of kings
03 united divided
04 the desert (feat. wallstreet)
05 i dare you (freestyle)
06 clap to this
07 flash on
08 friends

finding this project was a pain in the -ss so to speak. it was leaked to the internet somewhere in the mid-2000s, but when megaupload got closed down, n0body ever bothered to re-upload it to any other filesharing website
so i went through a lot of research that ended up with “file not found” messages for me, until i found part of it on some old, fishy looking romanian rap forum and two other songs on youtube of all websites. what i have declared unfindable for myself are only the songs “the desert”, “flash on” & “friends”.

the only song from this project that reoccurs somewhere later in his discography is “king of kings”, but the other songs are quite interesting to listen to as well
for example the song “clap to this” contains a lyrics in which royce states his age (“i’m 20 with money”), which would make that song to be from 1997 and thereby one of the oldest recorded royce songs i know of

unfortunately i have no source for whether this is legitimatetly the demo tape royce handed dr. dre back in the day or just a compilation of really old songs
rock city mixtape and rock city album(s)
the mixtape

in 2001 royce released a stretch armstrong hosted promo mixtape for his upcoming album rock city, which contained an intro with cuts from former def squad live disc jockey dj ev, two freestyles and six songs/snippets:
tracklist:

01 intro
02 you can’t touch me
03 freestyle #1
04 scary movies (by bad meets evil)
05 what the beat (from dj clue’s the professional part 2)
06 boom
07 freestyle #2
08 we’re live (danger)
09 rock city

i haven’t able to find a copy of this mixtape so i unfortunately can’t tell you whether those freestyles have ever been re-released or not
rock city vol. 1
tracklist:

01 it’s tuesday (intro)
02 rock city (feat. eminem)
03 get’cha paper
04 we’re live (danger)
05 you can’t touch me
06 let’s go (feat. twista)
07 d-elite pt. 1
08 d-elite pt. 2
09 she’s the one (feat. tré little)
10 boom
11 what would you do?
12 who am i
13 life (feat. amerie)

this was supposed to be royce’s debut, but his record label at the time didn’t want to put it out like that. it features songs such as the street hit “boom” or the song “life” in which he speaks to his newborn son and tries to explain the world to him. the song “she’s the one” also exists as a bad meets evil version
rock city vol. 2
tracklist:

01 it’s tuesday (intro)
02 rock city (feat. eminem)
03 off parole (feat. tré little
04 my friend
05 you can’t touch me
06 mr. baller (feat. clipse, pharrell & tré little
07 let’s go (feat. twista)
08 d-elite pt. 1
09 take his life (feat. wallstreet)
10 nickel nine is
11 boom
12 soldier’s story
13 who am i
14 life (feat. amerie)
15 king of kings

this is royce’s official solo debut right here and the tracklist is slightly different from the first rock city. still featuring all the gems the first edition had to offer (like “life” or “boom”) but now also with another dj premier produced song (“my friend”) and even one with clipse, produced by the neptunes (“mr. baller”)
dj b-tter presents “scary music”

this is the most complete inofficial compilation i have been able to find for all the old bad meets evil stuff, and it might even be not that inofficial since dj b-tter would later do more mixtapes with royce
tracklist:

01 re-incarnated (intro)
02 nuttin’ to do
03 freestyle (kool kid)
04 scary movies
05 soldier’s story
06 food stamp (freestyle)
07 live in concert
08 demon within (ghost story)
09 rock city (jackin’ 4 beats) (borderline unlistenable remix)
10 she’s the one
11 renewing the staff (tony touch)
12 renegades (original version)
13 what the beat (from dj clue’s the professional part 2)
14 rhyming words (stretch armstrong)
15 dj b-tter interview (speaks on bad meets evil)
16 freestyle (radio station)
17 the break up beef (skit)
18 special bonus cut
19 detroit what! (outro)

this compilation tape pretty much contains everything dope bad meets evil put out back then, such as the original to the eminem x jay-z song “renegade”. the only thing really missing from this is the full version of their legendary 12 minute stretch armstrong freestyle.
build and destroy: the lost sessions

this is a double disc compilation royce put out in 2003, with different tracklists for the us and the european version (i put both tracklists together into one). most of the content is from ~1999 – ~2002 and includes some of the previously unreleased music he recorded while signed to tommy boy records
tracklist:

01 intro
02 we’re live (danger)
03 scary movies (the sequel)
04 take his life (feat. wallstreet)
05 it’s over (seems to exist only as a censored version apparently)
06 i won’t be
07 spit game (feat. pretty ugly)
08 nuttin’ to do (by bad meets evil)
09 r.a.w. (feat. checkmate and concise)
10 knuckle up (feat. hush)
11 boom (rjd2 blend)
12 what the beat (from dj clue’s the professional part 2)
13 stretch armstrong freestyle
14 i’m the king
15 let’s grow
16 tony touch freestyle
17 she’s the one
18 feels good (with pharrell & tré little)
19 king of kings
20 all we wanna do // hidden track: the way i be pimpin’ (with dr. dre) (original to xxplosive by dr. dre)
21 hidden track: in the presence of wolves (feat. d-elite)

22 king of detroit
23 malcom x
24 what we do
25 heartbeat
26 trouble
27 take me away
28 life goes on
29 make this run (feat. pharrell & kelis)
30 death day
31 freestyle
32 we riding
33 runnin’ (feat. cha cha
34 lights out
35 you don’t know me
36 sh-t on you
37 war
38 hidden track: duck down
39 hidden track: the throne is mine

this tape contains some of royce’s best stuff to date and features production from some legends like pharrell, just blaze, kanye west, the alchemist, dr. dre and even the late great j dilla. some of these songs are diss tracks towards d12 (like “malcolm x”), while others are tracks that send peacemaking messages towards them (like “let’s grow”)
death is certain
tracklist:

01 intro
02 regardless
03 throw back
04 what i know
05 i promise
06 call me never! (skit)
07 hip hop
08 gangsta (feat. cutty mack)
09 t.o.d.a.y (feat. ingrid smalls)
10 i & me
11 beef
12 bomb 1st
13 everybody goes
14 death is certain pt. 2 (it hurt’s)
15 something’s wrong with him (feat. 6 july)

this album is obviously well known for it’s very dark tone and subject matter. many royce fans (including me) consider it their favourite album of his. highlights include songs like the dj premier produced “hip hop” or introspective songs like “i & me”, “t.o.d.a.y” or “death is certain pt. 2”.
defending the crown mixtapes
defending the crown
tracklist:

01 king detroit of dj´s (intro)
02 true lyrics
03 buck!
04 cop that disc (death iz certain)
05 make it count records (interlude)
06 sick (feat. kid vishis)
07 my language (feat. 2pac)
08 the streets (feat. mozzarati vick and tu-one)
09 stand up (real n-ggas)
10 suck our b-lls (skit)
11 get ya guns up
12 real n-gga rap
13 prayer
14 the playoffs (feat. kid vishis)
15 representin’ the d (interlude)
16 throwback
17 mad man (skit)
18 live at st. andrews
19 wait to feb 2004 (outro)
20 bonus cut

i haven’t been able to find this anywhere, so i can’t really say much about it aside from pointing your attention to track number 19, which tells us that this tape is from pre febreuary 2004. this is probably also one of the first solo records royce has that features his younger brother kid vishis.
defending the crown vol. 2: kiss the ring
tracklist:

01 stay tuned (intro)
02 go back
03 2 of a kind (feat. kid vishis)
04 shoot 1st
05 ghetto gospel (feat. billy nix)
06 dirt off ya shoulders (feat. wesley valentine)
07 escape the cops (feat. cutty mack)
08 misery (feat. birdie, smack man & kid vishis)
09 brother’s keeper (feat. kid vishis)
10 live from the red carpet
11 maintain (feat. june)
12 when them dogs come runnin’ (feat. smack man)
13 idonlikedatbeat (skit)
14 turn up the radio (feat. cha cha)
15 king gordy gives royce props (interlude)
16 love (feat. billy nix)
17 105.9 fm detroit freestyle
18 switch (feat. cutty mack, june & young rell)
19 protect my family (outro)
20 bonus cut

once again a project i have not been able to find anywhere in the world, all i know for sure is that this was released on february 5, 2004
defending the crown iii: the coroner
tracklist:

01 b-tter & nickel interview (intro)
02 lookin’ @ my dawg (unofficial remix) (feat brando)
03 green and black elevator – june
04 a free man (no slave no mo’) – billy nix
05 f-ck a hook (beats to rhymes/dj b-tter mix) (feat run-d.m.c.)
06 politics (megamix)
07 do what i gotta do – white boy (d-white)
08 freestyle – june & kid vishis
09 the illest (original)
10 the ghetto’s outta control – billy nix
11 bring the heat (ft brasco)
12 the blood clot (freestyle) – june & strike
13 find you clapped (feat juan, malik & k-doe)
14 5’9″ speaks (skit)
15 hood hop (remix) (feat kid vishis)
16 unexplainable hunger (original) (feat cl-ssified & choclair)
17 po’ n-gga – billy nix
18 shade (clinton sparks)
19 what’s going on? (this one’s for you mix) – ll cool j, n.o.r.e., royce da 5’9″, pharrell williams, faith evans, queen latifah, fabolous, da brat, angie martinez, mobb deep & sonja blade
20 for the fans (dj b-tter outro)
21 bonus track

the only installment of the 3 defending the crown tapes that i was able to find, is also the one that features the least amount of royce on it. it has a couple of promo songs from some of his m.i.c. homies (which are in parts really nice and it parts pretty boring) and some kind of weird remixes, alongside of some good royce songs like the illest (original). this was released in june of 2005 and served as a promo tape for the independent’s day album (see somewhere further below)
the m.i.c. mixtapes
m.i.c. mix vol. 1
tracklist:

01 welcome to the m.i.c. (feat. the bureau)
02 my language (freestyle)
03 throw back
04 switch (feat. cutty mack, june & young rell
05 sick (feat. kid vishis)
06 shut sh-t down (feat. ingrid smalls)
07 stand up (freestyle)
08 smoke (feat. june)
09 hit (feat. cutty mack & ingrid smalls)
10 can’t keep doing it (freestyle)
11 no
12 buck (feat. d-elite)
13 street games
14 yes (feat. june, cutty mack, kid vishis & billy nix)
15 it’s over (outro) (feat. billy nix)

this promo mixtape was supposed to put royce’s m.i.c. homies on the map back in the day and featured some cool tracks as well as some of his first self-produced songs (such as “street games”). unfortunately i have not been able to find this project entirely, the only songs i was able able to dig up are the ones that are featured on the second edition (see below) anyways or were already on previous projects
m.i.c.: make it count
tracklist:

01 buzzin’
02 on the road
03 dope (feat. juan)
04 nickel
05 street games
06 jump
07 gone in 30 sec. (feat. t.dot & tré little)
08 switch (feat. cutty mack, june & young rell
09 52 bars
10 back in the days
11 f-ck a hook
12 brothers keeper (feat. kid vishis)
13 basic rap
14 no talent rappers (feat. juan & cutty mack)
15 stand up (feat. billy nix, tré little, cha cha & cutty mack)

known among fans also as “m.i.c. vol. 2” or “the official m.i.c. mixtape”, this tape was highly antic-p-ted and is a lot more commonly known among fans than the first one (which might be due to the fact that the first one is pretty much impossible to find). the song “buzzin'” received some more recognition when madlib made a weirdly indian sounding remix to it
m.i.c. presents: best of royce da 5’9″
tracklist:

01 buzzin’
02 nickel nine is
03 hood hop freestyle
04 52 bars
05 who shot ya? freestyle
06 royce and eminem 10 minute stretch armstrong freestyle
07 scary movies
08 i & me
09 dirt off your shoulders freestyle
10 heartbeat
11 throw back
12 let the guns go
13 game over freestyle
14 boom
15 stretch armstrong freestyle
16 royce and eminem (live on stage)
17 renegades (original version)
18 beef
19 who am i
20 something’s wrong with him (feat. 6 july)
21 outro

i haven’t been able to find this project in it’s entirety either, it was leaked to the internet by a canadian guy who bought it at a royce show in ottawa, but all the links for it are pretty much dead by now and i have never seen anybody on the internet selling this either. but it’s quite interesting to see that royce apparently didn’t think his career would last much longer after november 2004 when this dropped because otherwise he would not have released a greatest hits album after pretty much just 2 or 3 years of really being on the map in the rap game
independent’s day
tracklist:

01 intro
02 i owe you
03 ride (feat. big herk & juan)
04 wet my whistle (feat. sata stokes)
05 politics (feat. cee lo green)
06 why you lookin at my dog (feat. yo gotti)
07 right back (feat. juan & kid vishis)
08 skit
09 blow dat
10 chips on pistons (feat. blade icewood)
11 skit
12 f-ck my brains out (feat.june & ingrid smalls)
13 independent’s day
14 meeting of the bosses
15 skit
16 paranoia
17 lay it down (feat. juan & k done)
18 yeah

the album is called independent’s day because royce’s birthday is on july 5th, one day after the american inependence day and he was an independent artist at the time. many people don’t give this project the credit it deserves as royce’s 3rd studio album. it may not be as great as the previous two, but there’s a great variety of songs from party to gangsta to very dark. so there’s pretty much something for everybody on this project
the raw sessions
raw sessions vol. 1
tracklist:

01 real talk
02 make it count
03 pray
04 thug it out
05 down down
06 pray for me
07 truth
08 cold steel
09 don’t want to war
10 it ain’t that
11 crazy
12 stripper girl
13 oh no
14 move
15 cry
16 wet my whistle remix (feat. brilliance)

very nice nixtape from royce here, only track that i can’t find anywhere is the number 03 “pray”. most of the “songs” are just single verses and then over a minute of just the beat playing out. highlights include the rugged “pray for me” and “cry”, which is a message of a deceased royce to his mother, who mourns over the death of her son
raw sessions vol. 2
tracklist:

01 apologize
02 r.i.p
03 spit
04 ride with me
05 take em’ to church
06 in the chi
07 gangsta
08 whats hood
09 hey ho
10 them guns
11 i & me (original version)
12 death is certain pt. 1
13 t.o.d.a.y. (original)
14 style
15 cipher

the second installment of the raw sessions series features some amazing leftovers from the death is certain album, such as “t.o.d.a.y. (original)” and “death is certain pt. 1”. seriously, if you know somebody that’s a big fan of the death is certain album, show them these leftover songs, there’s a good chance they don’t know them yet and finding those was like christmas for me. another highlight is the song “apologize”, which shows royce apologizing to his wife
the bar exams
the bar exam
tracklist:

01 dj premier intro
02 hit em
03 royce is like
04 gorilla pimp
05 a million more
06 feelin it ’07
07 who want it
08 ding ding!
09 as live as it gets
10 what you call that (feat. termanology)
11 go gettem
12 im strapped
13 we run detroit
14 ima let you tell it (feat. kid vishis)
15 down bottom
16 tell you why im hot
17 keep on pushin
18 street hop
19 kid vishis freestyle
20 gone (return of malcolm)
21 the dream (feat. rell)
22 dj premier outro
23 sound the alarm (feat. black milk & guilty simpson)

a fan favorite project right here. dj premier and statik selektah did a great job as executive producers of this mixtape and both contributed some dope original beats to this as well. many consider songs like “ding! ding!” and “royce is like” some of royce’s best stuff
the bar exam 2

(this was released commercially with a slightly different tracklist under the t-tle “the album”)
tracklist:

01 crazed madman intro
02 heat to the streets (feat. kid vishis)
03 it’s the new
04 i’m me freestyle
05 i’m nice
06 gun music
07 weatherman (feat. sucka free & kid vishis)
08 i’m the sh-t fool!!! (interlude)
09 we deep (feat. trick trick)
10 let the beat build freestyle (feat. stretch money)
11 royal flush freestyle (feat canibus & elzhi)
12 jockin my fresh
13 gettin money freestyle
14 gangsta remix (feat. akon)
15 happy bar exam 2 (feat. marv won)
16 ignorant sh-t freestyle
17 flow boy (feat. tondalaya)
18 been shot dow
19 j-ro vs. mike b (skit)
20 k!ll em pt. 2 (feat. kid vishis)
21 wall street (feat. june)
22 royce outro

the second bar exam is a fan favorite just like the first one. full with dope bars from aggressive to hilarious this project has a lot to offer
the bar exam 3: the most interesting man in the world
tracklist:

01 intro: most interesting man in the world (skit) #1
02 the most interesting man
03 go hard pt.1 (feat. kid vishis)
04 on fire (feat. crooked i)
05 skit
06 real hip hop (feat. black milk & elzhi)
07 acapella
08 it’s over (freestyle)
09 n0body f-cking with us (feat. bun b & slaughterhouse)
10 airplanes (freestyle)
11 most interesting man in the world (skit) #2
12 beamer, benz, or bentley (shadymegamix)
13 i hate your pants
14 forever (freestyle)
15 in the club
16 most interesting man in the world (skit) #3
17 go hard pt. 2 (feat. kid vishis)
18 v-g-n-
19 psyco skit
20 pyscho
21 drama (feat. trick trick & junes flow)
22 i’m not slaughterhouse (interview)
23 187 (response)
24 most interesting man in the world (skit) #4
25 taxi driver
26 iceman (skit)
27 lyrical hitman (richard kuklinski) (feat. marv won)
28 most interesting man in the world (skit) #5
29 spark yo brain
30 horseshoe (feat. horseshoe g.a.n.g.)

similar to the previous two bar exams, this can easily be described as a fan favourite project. it contains everything from hilarious songs like “i hate your pants” or “v-g-n-” to some more introspective stuff like the “airplanes (freestyle)”. only thing that all the songs have in common with each other is bars
street hop
tracklist:

01 gun harmonizing (feat. crooked i)
02 count for nothing
03 soldier (feat. kid vishis)
04 something 2 ride 2 (feat. phonte)
05 dinner time (feat. busta rhymes)
06 far away
07 warriors (feat. slaughterhouse)
08 …a brief intermission (skit)
09 new money
10 shake this
11 gangsta (feat. trick trick)
12 mine in thiz (feat. mr. porter)
13 street hop 2010
14 thing for your girlfriend (feat. k-young)
15 on the run
16 murder
17 bad boy (feat. jungle rock jr.)
18 part of me
19 hood love (feat. bun b & joell ortiz)
20 i’m fresh (feat. mr porter)
21 it’s all about

this executively produced by dj premier album marked royce’s studio album comeback after a rough time of beefing, losing friends, reconciling with old rivals and going to jail. it features some stellar bars as always, as well as the song “part of me”, which is the story of a guy hooking up with two girls who cut off his d-ck. the song is so good and captivating, i promise you that if you are a male human being, you won’t ever want to revisit it again. go check out the dj premier produced single “shake this” instead or go listen to royce doing what he did best during those times: rap about guns (“gun harmonizing”)
success is certain

tracklist:

01 legendary (feat. travis barker)
02 writer’s block (feat. eminem)
03 merry go round
04 where my money
05 er (feat. kid vishis)
06 on the boulevard (feat. nottz and adonis)
07 i ain’t coming down
08 security
09 second place
10 my own planet (feat. joe budden & mr. porter)
11 i’ve been up, i’ve been down

this is currently royce’s latest solo record and it features some of his best ever verses (i.e. “legendary”), some great storytelling (like on “on the boulevard” or “security”) as well as production from the always present dj premier (“second place), among others. t-tle and cover are obviously a nod to his 2004 album “death is certain”, but signing to shady records as slaughterhouse and going gold with the bad meets evil album probably put royce a almost polar opposite place to those times

unfortunately this list ends on something released 4 years ago, but i’m confident that we’ll see something new from royce very soon. i’m very eager to hear sober royce on a project other than prhyme, which already was phenomenal. the new slaughterhouse project should be great as well, they have -ssembled a dope production team, joell is hungry as ever (not just due to his weight loss) and i do credit joe budden a little bit with royce being more and more introspective since they formed the group in 2008. everything royce has been on recently has been nothing but fire (he was on statik selektah’s new album with a solo track and featured on a bunch of people’s songs), so i’m definitively ready for his next solo effort. or a new slaughterhouse album before that. or prhyme 2. or all those things. please

- dinokyu lyrics

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