Royce da 5'9" says he and Eminem had "already ruled out the theory of having time to do a plan with each other a long time ago." So he considers "Hell: The Sequel," the new EP the two Detroit MCs are releasing June 14 under the moniker Bad Meets Evil, to be "definitely God's work."
"This just came really organically and smooth," Royce (real name: Ryan Montgomery) tells Billboard.com.
The drift was a song called "Living Proof" that Royce was running on for his own album; he asked Eminem to guest on the track, which set more collaborations in motion.
Video: Bad Meets Evil, "Fast Lane"
"We had so much dun doing it, that we decided any time we had a short bit of free time we'd record something good to screw around like we used to cover in the day," Royce recalls. "The chemistry just clicked pretty easily. We only looked up after a certain number of metre and had the 11 records on the EP - nine and the two bonus cuts ('Living Proof' and 'Echo'). So we decided to put 'em out."
Eminem Announces Bad Meets Evil EP Title: 'Hell: The Sequel'
"Hell: The Sequel" reunites the two running buddies who first became acquainted with each other and started working together during the late 90s - including a collaboration on the track "Bad Meets Evil" from Eminem's "The Slim Shady LP." A subsequent falling out and feud lasted until the 2006 shooting death of mutual acquaintance and fellow MC Proof led to a reconciliation that, among other things, led to Eminem signing Royce's group Slaughterhouse to his Shady Records label.
"You only look backwards in review and say, 'You were young, in your 20s, you made mistakes,' " Royce explains. "We've all grown from it. I'm just happy to be back as closely as I am with Em, making music together, being a positive influence over the city, not a negative light or a black cloud, showing a united front."
Royce says the two rappers found it "surprisingly easy" to get back into their late 90s roles of Bad (Royce) and Evil (Eminem). "A lot of people know the new, more mature, more sober, conquering- his-demons (Eminem)," Royce says. "But a lot of them wish to learn the old, crazier Em from back in the day. So whenever we get together we try to give it as nostalgic as possible, just get it second to when it didn't matter and we only wanted to rhyme. We wanted to meet those characters again. That's what feels normal to us when we get together."
The "Hell: The Sequel" track "A Kiss" is already getting attention for its references to Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry, as good as a note saying Lady Gaga "can quit her job at the post office/she's a male lady." An mixture of other targets are tagged throughout the EP, but Royce - who presciently offs Jack Kevorkian in the low single "Fast Lane," written and recorded well before his real death - says nobody should have great offense.
Eminem Disses Lady Gaga on Bad Meets Evil Track, 'A Kiss': Listen
"(Eminem) has a keen sense of humor. He's bee doing that eccentric of thing his whole career. It's one of the things that makes him great. I laughed when I heard it and told him he was crazy. I definitely don't believe anyone should demand it as an insult."
Royce says the duo is not planning any formal Bad Meets Evil performances, although he plans to pop up at Eminem's shows. He's also looking towards the July 26 release of an independent solo album, "Success Is Certain," that features an Eminem guest appearance on the song "Writer's Block."
Meanwhile, Slaughterhouse - which guests on the "Hell: The Sequel" track "Loud Noises" - has "got a lot done" on its first Shady album, including study with producers such as Denaun Porter, Just Blaze, The Alchemist and others.
"We'll eventually get to the head over the following few weeks where we go running stuff by Em," Royce says. "Maybe he'll start mixing stuff, put a rhyme on something, put his comment in. Right now he's letting us do what we do until we get material that we get to him. Then he'll listen to it and make sure everything gos alike what it should sound like and have some suggestions. He's good at that, so it should be interesting."
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