When I first heard Royce Da 5′9″ spit for the first time on Eminem’s track “Bad Meets Evil,” I knew that he was the real deal. Sadly, “Bad Meets Evil” is the only exposure many people have had with Royce. It doesn’t matter if you are a die hard fan or a first time listener however, Street Hop is a great album regardless of your exposure. This album is hotter than hell in every sense of the phrase; Royce spits lava on every track, and each producer provides the napalm needed to keep the fire ablaze.

There are two main aspects to Street Hop: throughout the album Royce displays his witty punchlines that are likely to leave listeners constantly craving more; second, he turns up his storytelling skills and shows people that he can paint a picture like Pablo Picasso. The seesaw balancing act between the two sides is just one of the things that makes this album great.

“Gun Harmonizing” is the starter pistol that propels Street Hop’s ferocious start; Emile’s hodge podge of horns, strings and drums provide the perfect backdrop for Royce and Crooked I to clap their verbal rounds. Royce keeps spewing verbal arson over Nottz’s guitar chops and haughty horns on the track “Count For Nothing.” On “Something 2 Ride 2,” one of Street Hop’s highlight tracks, the legendary DJ Premier lends his hands to the production boards, and Phonte of Little Brother jumps in on the hook. Premo’s mellow beat on the track allows Royce to show off his molten flow:

“Reigning king of the boom bap/Bomb strapped to my chest askin’: where ya goons at?/I’m old school like Star Tech, on a voyage like Star Trek/Me un-employed is far fetched/I’m hot, I got the corduroy flow/You can picture but can’t shake it the Polaroid show”.

Royce continues the microphone massacre alongside Busta Rhymes on the track “Dinner Time.” Although both emcees spit wicked lines, it’s quite obvious that Royce takes the upper hand with his liquid smooth stanzas. Many people might think that Royce is simply going along with the auto-tune trend on “Far Away,” however Royce tears it up on the track, “It’s definitely a burner/It’s on cuz that beef be the recipe for murder/Who ever is in my session is an accessory to murder/My words put niggas to bed, my records be the Serta.” The emcee goes further by claiming he only “uses the auto-tune because he’s clownin’.” Royce even brings along the entire Slaughterhouse crew to decimate Streetrunner’s beat on “Warriors.”

Royce shines the most on this album when he is in his Steven Spielberg story-spitting mode. Tracks like “Murder” & “Part of Me” show just how harrowing a Royce Da 5′9″ narrative can be. The album’s sure highlight comes on the DJ Premier laced cut “Shake This” in which Royce recounts going to jail for his second DUI. Premo’s uplifting beat is full of triumphant horns that fuel Royce’s storytelling abilities,

“September 18th, Two-oh-oh-six/I role up into court thinkin’ this should go quick/On some couple thousand dollar suit type shit/From behind thousand dollar Cartier scripts/I witnessed my world tumble down like bricks/Two words she slurred, and it sounded like this/One year/Traveled through the room like moonlight through the darkness.”

While Street Hop is a great album, at 19 tracks long there are surely some cuts that could be left out of the equation. Tracks like “Gangsta” and “Thing For Your Girlfriend” just don’t do it for me. Even though there are some trip ups, they don’t take away from the album substantially. In fact, Street Hop contains some of Royce’s best work to date. The weak tracks tend to make the album a little lengthy; if they weren’t on Street Hop, it would be a damn near perfect album. If you are looking for great lyricism mixed with brilliant boom bap production, you will love Street Hop.

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Also: Royce Da 5′9″ “October 20th” Video