Yesterday, Royce Da’ 5’9” released a video for “You Should Know It,” the newest single from his album PRhyme, a collaboration with DJ Premier. The video features Dwele (who sings the hook) and DJ Premier himself. For the most part; the video is vintage/typical Detroit: urban porn shots (looks like the Packard Plant) and oil drum fires, with lots of mixing, rapping, and scratching.
We all are familiar with Royce and the fire he brings. But the question is why does it seem the rest of the world refuses to give this album the credit it’s due? From a creative, historical, and critical standpoint, PRhyme was the most important album from a Detroit emcee released last year. Royce is the constant rapper’s rapper, and PRhyme is a classic album loved by hip-hop heads and boom-bap followers. Enjoy this new video! —Kahn Santori Davison
Metro Times music editor Mike McGonigal has written about music since 1984, when he started the fanzine Chemical Imbalance at age sixteen with money saved from mowing lawns in Florida. He's since written for Spin, Pitchfork, the Village VOICE and Artforum. He's been a museum guard, a financial reporter, a bicycle...
