“I woke up this morning and decided I don't expect for you to understand my shit, if you're not hip-hop” - Royce da 5’9", Book of Ryan (Intro).
On Friday, Royce da 5’9" released his much-anticipated album, Book of Ryan on the heels of the release of the PRhyme 2 album with DJ Premier. It’s refreshing to have his lyrical ingenuity back in game.
This album is his most introspective and reflective body of work to date, as he delves into some deeply personal topics such as family dysfunction, regret, growth, struggles with addiction and his new found outlook on the rap game as a whole. Listeners can find Royce in the midst of the greatest chapter of his personal and professional life.
Let’s celebrate this accomplishment with him by reflecting on the best bars from the album.
Royce Lyrically Flexin’:
“That'sthat yo ass is bleeding, that's that Kotex. I massacre your whole rap allegiance, oh yes” (Royce da 5’9", Woke)
“Talk is cheap, the more you niggas talk it, it cheapens. And all I see is prayer 'round the streets today; I'm about a freak away from havin' Issa Rae eatin' out LisaRaye” (Royce da 5’9", God Speed ft. Ashley Sorrel)
“I’m what you get when Freeway Rick and Cocaine 80's met. Bringin' bars back to the streets like Jay and Nas beef—Broadcastin' "Ether" in HD atGod speed” (Royce da 5’9", God Speed ft. Ashley Sorrel)
“Beautiful women asking "Why don't we get together?" I told all 'em bitches "Nevuary". Now all thembaddest bitches know to never come to me with nonsense, Cause they know that I will fuck 'em once, Like a record company and drop 'em” (Royce da 5’9", Legendary)
“Y’all came to be euthanized, I can't be de-humanized. I ain't even human, I'm paying a communion wine. Cruisin' in that Wraith, dawg, like we came to offend haters. Shoot a nigga face off like his neighbor is Tim Taylor” (Royce da 5’9", Summer on Lock)
“I ain't around here being no attention whore, I need niggas to look at these whips for every time we got those extension cords” (Royce da 5’9", Amazing Ft. Mélanie Rutherford)
“Fuck with my commas, shit will be quick. Got what's in my pocket out of the dirt, filthy rich. I stuck to my promise to momma, stay focused—Double entendre, I'm tryna vocally smoke you, you will be missed” (Royce da 5’9", Stay Woke ft. Ashley Sorrell)
Royce being Introspective:
“The Book of Ryan. The untold tale of scandal, all my bars of madness, that are inspired by my childhood, scars and sadness. Every black man must fend for himself—Where we value physical much more than we do our mental health” (Royce da 5’9", My Parallel)
“Teesha used to shoot me down vicious, nowshe the missus. She turned me to a family guy quicker than Peter Griffin. I told myself when I was 14 that she the one… Now a nigga probably got more seeds than Peter Gunz” (Royce da 5’9", God Speed ft. Ashley Sorrel)
“I came across my identity on the Bob-Lo boat, that’s where I lost my virginity, no condom, though. That’s when paranoia hit me like when superstition does, left my inhibitions I guess, where my supervision was” (Royce da 5’9", Boblo Boat)
“A woman's loyalty is tested when her man has nothing. A man's loyalty is tested when that man has everything. The definition of a legend Is a man who starts with nothing and leaves the game with everything” (Royce da 5’9", Legendary)
"Nigga, everybody know little Ryan from 17150 North Long, I used to come and cop pork rinds, I used to watch drug dealers come through in cars, like, "If I get one of those, it's showtime" (Royce da 5’9", Amazing Ft. Mélanie Rutherford)
“You need to check up on your strong friend, the one with strength that's never gon' end, the one with sense, take care of several grown men, paythey rent and then they trade on him, the Devil play to win” (Royce da 5’9", Strong Friend)
“Grew up in the hood between anything and everything. White people enslaved us, made us just do everything. Now they justencage us, divide us up and everything, we snitchin' on each other tellin' everything (Royce da 5’9", Anything/Everything)
“'Cause we don't own anything, we don't stand for anything, and so we fall for anything. We wasn't born with anything, we don't control anything, and we don't own anything. And we don't learn anything, so we don't earn anything, we sell our soul for anything. We sell our soul for everything… 'Cept we don't live for anything, niggas kill for anything. We dyin' over anything, We killin' over anything” (Royce da 5’9", Anything/Everything)
Royce on Family:
"That taught me to focus on what's inside y'all and not the surface” (Royce da 5’9", Woke)
“Nothing compared to our family trips, my uncle shook hands with a manly grip.All this hand-me-down-shit; I had had an uncanny fit, all the gangstas I had in my family had me anti-bitch” (Royce da 5’9", Boblo Boat)
“I'm afraid of you going to college and not acknowledgin', I'm your father 'cause you not proud enough. But I fought hard to make sure you never see certain things I'm a product of, it's easy to confuse being a father with being a provider but all we got is us” (Royce da 5’9", Outside ft. Robert Glasper & Marsha Ambrosius)
I know I taught you to fight, you ain't in condition to win this, you wired different. You just ain't the nigga you friends is, it's scientific. (Royce da 5’9", Outside ft. Robert Glasper & Marsha Ambrosius)
“Look out the window, tell me what you see: police shootin' brothers the color of you and me. And theyactin' like they hate us so you may just wanna love yourself enough to compensate it” (Royce da 5’9", Outside ft. Robert Glasper & Marsha Ambrosius)
“My big bro got a lot of emotional problems, he feel that we was all abused as kids—He saw momma get dragged down all kinds of stairs like a ragdoll when he was two” (Royce da 5’9", Power)
“To all my friends I grew up with, who grew up fatherless. I know through me you live vicariously. I want you to know that we ain't know better than you and yours—we all needed therapy” (Royce da 5’9", Power)
“When I was nine, seen my father beat the shit out of my momma, I'm smilin' right now, I'm trying not to cry about it. Alcoholic, I just spent five thousand tryna buy bottles of Patron again, now sing along with your strongest friend” (Royce da 5’9", Strong Friend)
Royce Politicking 'bout The Rap Game:
“Uhh, all you niggas my little rapper babiesY'all my children,y'all bit my shit and contracted rabies. Don't you grade me next to these rappers, baby, that's degrading” (Royce da 5’9", Caterpillar)
“I went to parties just for Bacardi, I tricked, I never danced, all my friends expected to be treated just as my next of kin, eyebrows lift up if I'm out with them and let them spend” (Royce da 5’9", Strong Friend)
“The industry said I had to be an alcoholic, who be havin' threesomes, be doin' acid and havin' seizures. Wish I could go back to my old school and slap the teachers. All I had to do to blow up, was an album packed with features” (Royce da 5’9", God Speed ft. Ashley Sorrel)
“Either you a rich ass nigga or you’s a bum, there ain’t no in between. Sinners sell they souls, angels sell they halos andthey wings” (Royce da 5’9", Dumb)
“Man I wish I would let a nerd who work at Interscope, in a coat by Kenneth Cole, consult me about my image bro. I’m the best rapper out this bitch, except the only catch is that I’m in this hoe” (Royce da 5’9", Dumb)
Best Feature Verses
“You're looking at Atilla, the psychopathic killer, the caterpillar. Don't tell me when I'm supposed to rap until, uh… especially when your favorite rapper ain't even half as ill” (Eminem, Caterpillar)
“Piling up bros like we was clothing on a dresser, calling up hoes like we was Jodeci, let’s check her, Double D’s like double-deckers, I wanna sex her, but these keys don’t come with game on how to finesse her” (J. Cole, Boblo Boat)
“You're havin' a little trouble fathomin' this is actually happenin'. Like Anderson Silva back when he snapped his shin in half, and then had the shit hangin' by a flap of skin, after he tried to plant the shit back on the mat again” (Eminem, Caterpillar)
“Uh, it's fly season, my season, as long as I don't lose, it's all cool if I die even. Yeah, we the niggas that they talking 'bout, Yeah, y'all the niggas that they chalkin' out” (Jadakiss, Summer on Lock)
“You jack-offs need to come to grips like a hand job. The boom bap is coming back with an axe to mumble rap—Lumberjack with a hacksaw” (Eminem, Caterpillar)
“Grind all winter, shine all summer. Life's a bitch and I'm tryna keep you slime balls from her” (Fabolous, Summer on Lock)
“I realize they wanna backstab me, then turn knife. You ain't got a hunnid 'till you got two hunnid, learn life. Respect ain't earned twice, once you lose it, it's gone. And it's lame when your money right but you using it wrong” (Fabolous, Summer on Lock)
“These beats are like my saloons, 'Cause these bars always got my stools in 'em. And I don't need Metamucil to loosen 'em, Bitch, shit is real like I pooped Jerusalem” (Eminem, Caterpillar)
“We had no Bob-Lo boat but I could note, those times is like a Bible quote. BC, before cell phones, the first time I would smoke, I was six years old, but that’s for another chapter, that’s for another story, to God be the glory. I made it out unscathed and now I sunbathe” (J. Cole, Boblo Boat)
“Somebody eatin' off your plate, how you gon' stomach that? 'Cause of that, all my niggas is (dumb) like how we get to this year? Man, I turn basic into intricate, I kill you with my simple shit. No tweetin' when we kickin' it, don't tell me what you finna get” (Boogie, Dumb)
“Everything is everything but I need a better ring. I'm married to the game so I got both of us wedding rings” (T-Pain, First of the Month)
“Money don't buy happiness, I go and cry in a Ferrari (skrt). We get kicked out the room, I'ma move the shit down to the lobby. 'Cause I got my bag in the mail, I'm happy as hell, bitch it's time to party” (T-Pain, First of the Month)
“Yeah, sold a quarter million records in my first week, and BET still don't wanna let me perform. Maybe it's 'cause my pigment, maybe I'm being ignant. Maybe it's all a figment of my imagination, and exaggeration exacerbates that I'm the illest” (Logic, Caterpillar (Remix))