Royce Da 5’9″ represents the city of Detroit, but the emcee believes rappers on the West Coast of the country make the best music projects. One half of Bad Meets Evil shared his thoughts on the subject on Twitter.
Royce named Kendrick Lamar, Game, YG, Nipsey Hussle, Roddy Ricch, DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Anderson .Paak, Schoolboy Q, Warren G, Daz Dillinger, and Kurupt. He also acknowledged record executives based in California.
“Important men in our culture who are underappreciated due to their reputations preceding them…,” quote-tweeted Royce Da 5’9″ when one of his followers thanked Death Row Records founder Suge Knight, Top Dawg Entertainment founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, and veteran artist manager Wack 100 for the success of West Coast Hip Hop.
Royce Da 5’9″ also retweeted additional users that posted about other West Coast recording artists such as The Pharcyde, The D.O.C., Tyler, The Creator, Vince Staples, Jay Rock, Glasses Malone, and E-40. Plus, the Michigan lyricist’s Slaughterhouse colleague, KXNG Crooked, shouted out The Lady of Rage which also got a retweet from Nickel Nine.
This year has seen several albums by West Coast rappers attain critical acclaim. Tyler, The Creator’s former Billboard 200 #1 Call Me If You Get Lost achieved an 89 score on Metacritic. Additionally, Vince Staple’s recently released self-titled LP currently has an 86 score on the site.
New albums by other California representatives have also earned high praise from professional critics. Mykki Blanco’s Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep (78) and Doja Cat’s Planet Her (77) are among the top-reviewed projects of 2021. Three of the last six Best Rap Album winners at the Grammy Awards were created by LA natives (Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly in 2016, Kendrick Lamar’s Damn in 2018, Tyler, the Creator’s Igor in 2020).
For his own discography, Royce Da 5’9″ has multiple LPs that have earned “critical acclaim” from Metacritic. 2018’s Book of Ryan has an 84 score and 2011’s Success Is Certain has an 82 score on the website that aggregates album reviews. In addition, Royce’s The Allegory received a Best Rap Album nomination at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in March.