Slept on Rappers

Ryan Montgomery, born and raised on the West Side of Detroit, Michigan in the W. McNichols & Wyoming Ave. area, moved to Oak Park, Michigan when he was 10 years old, later acquiring the nickname "Royce" during highschool after wearing a Turkish link chain with an R pendant resembling the Rolls Royce symbol. He began rapping at 18, influenced mainly by Ras Kass and Redman. He signed his first deal in 1998 with Tommy Boy Records, after Tommy Boy Records shut down, he signed a deal with Columbia Records where he started recording an album called Rock City, referring to Detroit's former status as home to Motown Records. When the project was heavily bootlegged, Royce left the label for Koch Records to re-record some of the album, eventually releasing it in 2002 as Rock City (Version 2.0). While the album did not sell very well, the DJ Premier-produced single "Boom" gained 5'9" some underground recognition and eventually resulted in the two working together more closely.

Through his manager, Royce was introduced to Eminem at a show in 1997, and the two formed a working relationship; they formed up as a duo, Bad Meets Evil, and released several tracks together. Royce appeared on Eminem's debut studio album The Slim Shady LP, in which he was featured on a song called "Bad Meets Evil". Royce and Eminem also released a track called "Renegades", from which Royce's vocals would later be replaced with Jay-Z's on the latter's The Blueprint. Through Eminem, Royce would also be introduced to both Dr. Dre and execs at Game Recordings. After his manager revealed that Royce was involved in writing the tracks "The Message" and an original version of "Xxplosive" for Dre's 2001 (entitled "Way I Be Pimping"), Dre requested that Royce cut ties with his manager. Royce refused to fire his manager and his relationship with Dre ended.

After his release in 2007, Royce went on to link up heavily with DJ Premier and Statik Selektah, putting out the mixtape The Bar Exam, an internet release which was critically acclaimed. He also announced an album with Premier; in an interview with Elemental Magazine, Royce stated that, contrary to rumors, Premier would not be producing the entirety of his upcoming album, but will be overseeing the project as executive producer, handpicking all of the beats. Following The Bar Exam, Royce wrote the single for Diddy's album Press Play, "Tell Me". Following this, the producer expressed interest in signing the lyricist to Bad Boy Entertainment; Nas has also stated that he would like to sign Royce to his Def Jam imprint, The Jones Experience. Neither of these deals, however, materialized.

In early 2008 Royce confirmed that he has officially resolved misunderstandings between himself and Eminem. Eminem told Royce that he has "some of the best shit recorded right now that he's ever done in his life." He explained that a recording session between the two has yet to take place, despite rumors about a reunion track produced by DJ Premier. 5'9" digitally released The Bar Exam 2 with DJ Green Lantern later in the year, as well as a retail version of the mixtape, called The Album; the projects featured production from Green Lantern, 9th Wonder, Premier and 6 July, among others. Later worked on his Premier-assisted retail release, Street Hop, the lead single of which was "Shake This", also produced by DJ Premier. The video to the song circulated the internet, and the project was released 20 October 2009. The album was well received by critics.

Joe Budden reached out to Crooked I, Royce da 5'9", Joell Ortiz, and Nino Bless for a track titled "Slaughterhouse" on his digital release, Halfway House. Based on the reception of the track, they decided to form a super-group, minus Nino Bless, and named it after the first song they made together. They released numerous songs throughout early 2009, building a buzz for their self-titled album, which was released through E1 on August 11, 2009. The album features production from The Alchemist, DJ Khalil, Mr. Porter, Streetrunner, plus guest appearances from Pharoahe Monch, K. Young, and The New Royales. Royce is currently in talks to sign with Shady Records, as are the other members of Slaughterhouse; recently he has stated several times that the deal will be wrapping up within the next few weeks. The members of Slaughterhouse were seen in the music video for the song "Forever". In addition, he, Eminem and Shady/Aftermath producer Mr. Porter made an appearance on radio host Tim Westwood's show for a freestyle session. The group have now signed a deal with Shady Records.

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Single: Part of Me