| Royce da 5'9" | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Birth name |
Ryan Daniel Montgomery |
|
Born |
5 July 1977 (age 42) |
|
Genre |
|
|
Occupation(s) |
Rapper |
|
Years active |
1998-present |
|
Label |
Shady, Tommy Boy, Interscope, Columbia, E1, Game Recordings, Gracie, M.I.C., One |
|
Associated acts |
Bad Meets Evil, DJ Premier, Eminem, PRhyme, Slaughterhouse, Statik Selektah |
Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born 5 July 1977), better known by his stage name Royce da 5'9", is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. Since beginning his professional solo career in 1998, he is perhaps best known for his longtime association with Eminem. He has worked extensively with DJ Premier and Carlos "6 July" Broady and has ghostwritten for the likes of Sean Combs and Dr. Dre. Royce is one-half of the duos Bad Meets Evil alongside Eminem and PRhyme alongside DJ Premier, and one-quarter of Slaughterhouse.
Royce was given his nickname after he began wearing an R pendant resembling the Rolls Royce symbol to high school. He began rapping when he was eighteen and signed his first deal three years later with Tommy Boy Records. After the label shut down, he signed a deal with Columbia and began recording the album Rock City. The album was heavily bootlegged, so Royce left the label, moved to Koch, and re-released the album as Rock City (Version 2.0) in 2002. Two years later, he released his second and most critically successful album to date, Death Is Certain, which charted with the DJ Premier-produced "Hip-Hop". The following year, he released his third album, Independent's Day, but it was met with less acclaim than either of his previous releases. After a four year hiatus of studio albums, Royce returned with his fourth album, Street Hop, in 2009. His album, Book of Ryan, was released in 2018. His recent album, The Allegory, was released in 2020.
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- 2002: Rock City
- 2004: Death Is Certain
- 2005: Independent's Day
- 2009: Street Hop
- 2011: Success Is Certain
- 2016: Layers
- 2018: Book of Ryan
- 2020: The Allegory