The Allegory: Review

3.16.20

Royce Da 5’9 The Allegory 2.21.20

I’m writing this late, but I wanted to give this one the proper amount of time to sit down and write about, because I loved this album so much. I’ve always been a fan of Royce as an amazing lyricist, and he has recently been getting some good attention as a producer. However, I think that Royce is many times too smart, too serious, too factual or real-life-storying-telling in his music for certain people to listen to for fun. Like, today’s hip-hop heads who listen to Playboy Carti and think it’s bars. But I think this album has something for everyone, and I do have it on my repeat playlist.

The album comes with plenty of punch lines, witty bars, and fun beats. It also comes with a lot of story telling, a lot of lessons and concerns. I truly learned a lot from this album, and I think it was enjoyable from front to back. Royce originally intended for this album to be an EP. Though, he didn’t feel that he could get a complete thought off on just a few tracks, and thus we have the twenty-two track album.

There are a lot of serious topics discussed in the remainder of this piece. Not everyone will agree, but it’s all important conversation.

1) Mr Grace (Intro)

This intro begins between a father and son. Basically, the father firing off a rapid fire questionnaire asking his son questions, in which to alter his mind to being a successful business man. Questions about intellectual property, up-selling, becoming financially stable, what to and what not to spend your money on, and to be real about the world and how quickly life and money can be taken away. It makes me think, wow, should we be teaching our youth this? What would life be like if we were taught this at such a young age? Would we be better about our money? (or maybe it would make us all crazy mean money lovers, who knows.)

After a whole minute of this conversation, Royce comes in. Basically, giving perspective to how money is the root of all evil. He talks about not having money, doing illegal things to get money, and constantly being harassed by the police. He talks about how black people have founded and begun so many things, but not received the credit for. While he spent all this time looking for money, what he needed to find was God. Overall, it’s just crazy story telling, and the rhyme scheme is super interesting. Royce made words that shouldn’t rhyme, rhyme. When I thought the flow was going to slip up because the words weren’t going to work, they didn’t. Really amazing work with this story.

“A rich man wrote this with a poor man's focus”

2) Dope Man (FT Emanny & Cedric the Entertainer)

“Prophesized to be your king, He's a king of the street,

Man of the world, who the little boys wanna be.”

Emanny opens the song with a beautifully sung verse, and an interesting message. Idolizing the streets, the ghetto, chains and shackles, the dope man. Cedric the Entertainer follows up with an interlude, giving us the latest weather news and vibes of the streets of the Dope Man’s neighborhood, I assume.

Royce’s verse is super quick and old-school sounding. It’s honestly just fun overall. While the song describes the Dope Man as a guy on the corner selling drugs, the deeper meaning, which the album is all about, is what kind of “dope man” are you? Don’t be the dope man making dirty money. Be the one that is getting your money the right way, and lead by example.

3) I Don’t Age

I watched an interview where Royce said this song didn’t have much of a concept. He was “just rapping.” But he went off and there are some important quotables and notables from this track.

“I’m too shady to be neutral, these artists try to divide us. If I go Kendrick Lamar, the world got’ watch the ‘Control’ change”

Remember the Control verse in 2013? Everyone thought it was so crazy, and Kendrick sort of dissed Eminem and every rapper known to man. But he sort of also just said their name, and didn’t really diss them. Well if you take the first half of this, Royce is sending a subliminal. Perhaps to Yelawolf, suggesting that he’s been trying to split up the bond Royce and Eminem have. Both artists are tied to Shady, Yelawolf has been tagging them both in posts, and the two have been pretty hostile towards one another. But, since Royce is too private to let it all go, I think this line basically means, if he did come after anyone musically, it would blow your mind more crazy than the Control verse, and you would all finally realize you should be on Royce, instead of Kendrick. Or at least, include him in the conversation.

4) Pendulum (FT Ashley Sorrell)

I instantly feel like this is a Grisellda beat. They’re on the album, but not here. Royce goes pretty crazy in this song. I could say that for everything, but there are some shocking bars, some funny ones, really just taking us from one end to the other of the spectrum. I wonder if he did this on purpose, hence “the pendulum.”

In religious terms, the pendulum is a non stoppable object swung on heavenly command, to basically, hit those whom have sinned. It will touch not only the poor and lonely, but also the rich and famous. So, I see the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the next, aggressive content to funny bars, and I think that is what Royce did here.

I won’t quote the scary, but he talks about leaving an impregnated woman who doesn’t want to have an abortion. Which, I think is just here as a shock factor. Royce has a son and he wouldn’t do this to a lady. Then, he goes on to make jokes about Tekashi 6ix9ine, Ray Jay, and Hurricane Chris. Remember any of these guys?

5) I Play Forever (FT Grafh)

I love hearing stories about how a song was made. So this song, featuring Grafh, was originally supposed to be Grafh’s song. He hit up Royce, and asked him to be on it. However, he had only did the chorus so far, and Royce loved it so much he wanted it for his own album. He asked to keep it, and said Grafh’s song with his feature is coming soon. Royce added some horns and drums to the beat, so he could have producer credits, along with DJ Green Lantern. It kind of sounds like a combination of an old Kanye West/Jay-Z beat and a Grisellda beat. He even pulled the “ever, ever dog?” line that Ye did in ‘Diamonds’. I think we can tell where Royce is going with his production skills, and I’m super into it.

6) Ice Cream (Interlude)

This song will is your biggest lesson on the album. It might make you feel uneasy about your childhood, but I think it’s important to become aware of. The interlude is a son asking his mother what the meaning of an allegory is.

“An allegory is a story with a subliminal meaning that has a political message based off the writer's mind”

Then, we hear an ice cream truck pull up, and the son ask to get something from the Ice Cream Man. Though the mother agrees, she instantly goes off on the Ice Cream Man.

Everyone knows the song that the Ice Cream Truck plays, that’s how we know he’s coming. It has been the same around the world, for decades. What many may not know, that I learned from this album, was that this song was an extremely racist song, written by a white man named Harry C Brown, in 1916, published by Columbia Records. (listen to the album for more)

The same label that gave us the Fugees and so many great talents that planted the seeds for hip-hop, will forever be bound to releasing this horrible song. On top of the song even being allowed to have been released on such a large platform, it has been continuously used for decades to lure kids in to spend their money on. How can we be so absent minded to these subliminal messages that crude people in the world have left with us, right before our eyes (or ears).

The skit ends with the Ice Cream Man asking the woman if she was “neverteddy69 from Tinder?” Clearly Royce wanted to end this on a playful note. He doesn’t want us to go beat up every man we come across driving an ice cream truck. This is to bring awareness to how the world has been such a cruel and unaccepting place, to people whom are different than one another.

While making sure I had my facts right, I also learned that this song was a play off of an older song, ‘Turkey in the Straw.’ Apparently this song was more well liked, and perhaps the ice cream industry wanted to use the music from this song. Either way, they should have known what it would be associated with, and this is just an overall bad, and sad, decision.

7) On the Block (FT Oswin Benjamin & DJ Premier)

I don’t even need to write about this song, you can just read the features. An Oswin Benjamin feature means this song is going to be lyrically insane. DJ Premier, so it’s a PRhyme sounding beat.

I think this is my favorite song. There is no better song to play in the car when you’re just cruising with the windows rolled down. I feel like I grew up listening to this song. The chorus just reminds me of hip-hop growing up, hanging out with your friends outside, and hearing Cash Rules Everything Around Me CREAM. Just the fun, old hits.

Royce’s first verse was steady with the calm beat, but the lyrics still came heavy. I can’t say if this is the reason or not, but the day the album dropped, Lauren London posted about leave her and her family name out of everyone’s mouths and let her grieve. Maybe she didn’t love this?

“Look, wifey realer than Lauren London on the corner hustling
Like a Detroit party when ‘Step in the Name of Love’ is on“

The second verse was a lot more quick and upbeat. Wasn’t expecting the switch up at all, but then he closes out:

“I prove I'm great at flippin' this shit
And building this shit, Dan Gilbert-in' shit”

Ain’t that the truth, Royce! Finally, if you don’t know who Oswin Benjamin is, listen to his verse. Learn his story. Go watch his Sway Universe Freestyle. A real talent. I like him with Royce and these type of artists. He definitely is an artist that deserves more looks and attention. I hope we see more.

8) Generation is Broken

A quick, sixteen second interlude. A man singing the generation is broken, and we were chosen to rise. Suddenly, the song gets cut off like someone changed the station. Hidden messaging!

9) Overcomer (FT Westside Gunn)

Why does Westside Gunn make music that is so soothing on the ears, but with content to get you fired from your job? With everyone’s recent obsession with Griselda, this one definitely makes it to the top five tracks.

But let’s not just put this on the feature. Mr. Keeps-to-himself called out Yelawolf so directly, we are all in shock. I can’t even quote it here, because it was like twelve bars long. He basically calls Yelawolf a snake, threatens him, and then requests he gets sober. I never thought I’d see the day, but they’re all their own men and I’ve had friends not like each other before. They’ve both gone at it on social media, but have since deleted posts. I think Yelawolf’s career is a fading dream, since he thought he could put out actual country music. But the Shady 2.0 Cypher will forever be my favorite twenty minutes. RIP.

10) Ms. Grace (Interlude)

Similar to Mr. Grace, a rapid fire questionnaire between a father and daughter. He teaches her to be aware of her surroundings, and never let a man take advantage of her. She must take control of her own faith, and do what it is best for her and her family.

11) Thou Shall (FT Kid Vishis)

This is one of those songs that will have you bobbing your head while making that disgusted look on your face when you hear a good beat and great lyrics.

Also, Kid Vishis is Royce’s real, blood, younger brother. It doesn’t seem he’s put out music in the past few years, but I like the verse. Pretty cool.

12) Fubu (FT Conway the Machine)

Fubu, I’m thinking about the hip-hop clothing brand from Daymond John in the early 90s. The chorus is “For Us, By Us” but I think they’re just going for the storyline, not about clothes or cars or anything like that. Except for when Royce says “My consigliere is marked echo every sentiment.” I heard Marc Ecko the first three times.

Even with the punchlines, this one is pretty serious. The beat sounds like it’s straight out of a scary movie, but I’m into that. What we learn here is that one of Royce’s sons was diagnosed with Autism. Royce believes he discovered some evidence that says this came from vaccinations. So the internet has been going crazy recently about “Anti-Vaxx” parents. It’s been cleared up that he nor his wife are anti-vaxx, he just believes in what he believes in and encourages you to do the same. I need to do some more research on this before I can pick a side. I’ve been told this is not possible, but I mean how many people get the flu from being given the flu shot? I’ll create my own opinion once I’m more educated on the topic. Hope they’re doing great with their son, though.

13) A Black Man’s Favorite Shoe (Skit)

This is hard to listen to. Just a white man obviously being really mean about black men. Followed by shooting a pair of Jordans. Really digging deep the storyline of a horrible past of racism.

14) Upside Down (FT Ashley Sorrell & Benny the Butcher)

This girl’s voice is crazy. She’s on three songs and kills it every time. The song opens with her, which is nice since you didn’t hear her voice til the end on ‘Pendulum’. Then, the final member of Griselda makes an appearance. I like that they each got on a different song. Each got a chance to go off on a crazy long verse, tell their story, etc. They all work together great and I think they will only go up from here.

15) Perspective (Skit)

This will be the second ‘biggest lesson’ track on the album. Eminem shares where he stands on the idea of racism in music. His knowledge of not only hip-hop, but music, pop culture, and history alone, is incredible. There is acknowledgment on many ends throughout this piece. It’s quite enlightening, and inspiring. People can be upset about him being in hip-hop, being acknowledged as the best in the space, etc. He doesn’t mention anything about himself, but you can only imagine the backlash he has received over the years for being a purely white kid in hip-hop. He acknowledges that whatever race you are, you cannot choose your parents, or what your nationality may be, but you can choose how you use it to your advantage to make a difference in the world.

“Nothing has brought more races and more people

From all different walks of life together than hip-hop”

I just love this so much. It’s very real to me. Hip-hop has taught me so many things. Made me so many friends. I somehow bring every conversation back to something in hip-hop. And, Eminem is kind of the reason why. Even though it’s not a song, I let this one play out every time.

16) Tricked (FT KXNG Crooked)

This song is funny. My first time listening to it, I was like, I don’t know if I’m into this, or if I hate it. The word “trick” was used about ninety times throughout the song. The content is dope, though. Again, the Allegory is an interpretation of he hidden message of a political standard or moral. Tricked tells us all the things we were taught to believe, and what they really are. Once you get used it to, it’s a bop, and it plays through on the playlist.

17) Black People in America

One last interlude, less than a minute long but deeper than most. This again raises the question of if vaccines really help. It suggests that they don’t, and they are a trick. Perhaps, if people didn’t need to get vaccinated, or weren’t taught so many negative things about Africa, people would go back to their home country, in efforts to make Africa the best country in the world, instead of the United States. Makes you think a lot.

18) Black Savage (FT Sy Ari Da Kid, White Gold, Chi The Prynce & T.I.)

This is my other favorite song on the album. T.I is one of my favorites, and it’s a great lineup overall. Royce has the first verse, which is one of his shorter ones, but he changes the flow three times within the verse alone. My favorite line on the entire album?

“Heart of gold, never sold my soul, Glock weighs a ton
Hov tellin' Lori Harvey, "No" at Roc Nation brunch”

Word is she was flirting heavy with Jay-Z during the Roc Nation brunch. Go check on Future, Lauren. HOV and B worked things out, he’s happy now.

I wrote about White Gold on Music to be Murdered By Review, looks like he has a home in the group. His verse was short, sounded a little bit like a more conscious Lil Wayne.

I think there are lots of versions of T.I that we could have got from this verse. He, a bit more subtly, also got off three different flows within this verse, and I’d say we got three different versions of T.I. The first one was the latest version of T.I. we’ve seen, the political preacher. The content stayed the same, but in the middle I heard him sounds more like the Live Your Life version that anyone can enjoy. The last version is an even older version of T.I. What is so crazy to me, it is similar to the first T.I verse on Touchdown, his song with Eminem from 2007.

19) Rhinestone Doo Rag

“I wore the rhinestone doo rag, so you don’t have to.” Another subtle lesson telling you to do better, and learn from your surroundings, and your history.

An interesting takeaway from this song, is a potential Royce and Tee Grizzley beef. Apparently, Tee Grizzley said something about Eminem in a song. Well I know, he said he was the King of Detroit and he’d kill Eminem. So obviously Royce didn’t like that. He also didn’t like when Eminem responded to it. I think this all blew up out of proportion, because now Tee Grizzley is mad and thinks that Royce ruined a potential collab for him and Em. Detroit has to stick together, guys!

“I hate to see Tee Grizzley going through shit he shouldn't be going through

I hate to see Shady respond to shit he shouldn't respond to”

20) Young World (FT Vince Staples & G Perico)

The main beat during feels like it came from Dr. Dre’s Compton, which is great. Vince Staples has the first verse. I thought this was a kind of strange feature. Maybe I don’t listen to him enough, but I feel like he did something different with his sound and his verse that made him fit right in here. In between verses they switch it up with different beats, vocals, and instruments. I hear Trey Songz and Jay-Z’s voice, and lots of hype-men. Keeps it interesting, then brings it right back for G Percio. Another breakdown like the first intermission follows his verse, as well as an old Carolina Panthers commercial. All the commotion throughout the song, is a message to show you what the young world is paying attention to, and it is not the bigger picture.

21) My People Free (FT Ashley Sorrell)

Last song with my girl, Ashley. She starts off the song, and it sounds like we’re at a poetry slam club, incredible.

“We need to change the way we’re living, and how we’re thinking”

Then Royce comes in.

“Which one do you want more, the validation or reality?
Let my people free”

Multiple cases of fractured laws and the justice system. People hating and hurting, because of money and jealousy. If we are able to change the way we’re living, open up our minds and alter the way we’re thinking, we will all be free.

22) Hero (FT White Gold)

A heartfelt way out. This song is a continuation to ‘Cocaine’ off of Book of Ryan. On the last album, we learned about Royce’s fathers drug addiction issues. It must have caused a bit of uneasiness amongst the two, as he takes this song to apologize for sharing those details with the world, before consulting in his father first. Nonetheless, he shares that even through the hard times, his father made sure Royce was good, and is his personal hero.