The story of Royce Da 5-9 is long and depressing, but it’s not over yet. After guest appearing on Eminem’s “Bad Meets Evil”, and going toe-to-toe with Shady on two tracks via Jon Shecter’s Game imprint, he proved that he’s not only down with Slim, but he can hang with him – lyrically – much more than any of Eminem’s other five friends. That’s right, for those that don’t know, Royce Da 5’9 is one of the rap game’s strongest emcees of the moment, and like he said on a mixtape freestyle – “Who’s the best Eminem, Jigga, or Nas? When it comes lottery time, that spot’ll be mine.”

Leaning more towards fact than opinion, Royce can actually be put in the same league as Jay-Z and Nas, and does have the potential to one day be “the king”, as he prematurely proclaimed on his Alchemist produced debut solo single. He doesn’t even have an album out in the states yet, and he has fans creating websites about him as if has already reached legendary status. The man ghostwrote for Dr. Dre’s 2001, and outshined Jay-Z on the original mix of “Renegades”. It seems like everyone realizes his potential, so what’s up with the album?

Well, the first to sleep on Royce Da 5’9 was Tommy Boy. Shortly after Eminem’s Slim Shady LP saw massive success, Tommy Boy’s now defunct hip-hop department signed Royce, only to put his project on the back burner. An inside source quoted one Tommy Boy higher-up as saying, “What do we want with Royce? Eminem’s not going to be around for much longer, and neither is he.” (Keep in mind this was coming from the label who brought you the Jock Jams series, and has also been dissed by virtually all of their artists – Noreaga, Naughty By Nature, De La Soul, Gravediggaz, GZA/Genius, etc.)

To the rescue was Jon Shecter, the original talent scout who helped get Royce out of his deal with Tommy Boy, bringing him back home to the 12″ label that started him, his own Game Recordings. The next step was taking 5’9 to Columbia, in hopes that the stellar lead single “Rock City”, a Detroit anthem propelled by Eminem’s hook and production, would push him into the major leagues, creating another rap superstar in the image of Nas, Em, or Jay. Fast-fowarding to the present, it didn’t exactly happen that way (or at least it hasn’t yet), and Royce’s official debut, Rock City, still remains in the vaults at Columbia.

Meanwhile, while Royce is in the studio re-recording several new tracks for the official U.S. release of Rock City (reportedly to be retitled Life), everything is all good in the U.K. On April 1st, 2002, the original vaulted version of Rock City was released in the U.K., and thanks to the magic of overseas importing, U.S. fans have a chance to check out the album that never was.

Listening to this version of Rock City, it is evident as to why the album has remained in the vaults for so long. It desperately needs work. Half of the album is banging, but truthfully, it is mostly the half you’ve already heard. Sure, the major singles are here – the DJ Premier fan-favorite “Boom”, the evercool “We Live (Danger)”, and the heavily slept on “Rock City”. And that’s not to say that there aren’t a few undiscovered gems here – the intro “It’s Tuesday” coaxes you into believing Royce could do no wrong on this album, and on certain tracks, it definitely seems that way. The extended metaphors of each “Who Am I” and “My Friend” (another Primo banger) are excellent, as is the dedication to his son, “Life”, which Royce delivers life lessons with a lot of feeling.

But then there is the bad half (no pun intended). The half that makes it sound like there were way too many hands involved in the creation Royce’s album. The kind of tracks that drag an album through the mud and bump it down from 5 mics to 3&1/2. That’s right – the bullshit. The first sign was the overly corny “You Can’t Touch Me”, the first major single, where the Trackmasters attempted (and failed) at recreating the sound found on Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love Ya”. Then there’s the token, pre-N.E.R.D. Neptunes’ track “Get’cha Paper”, another joint where Royce dumbs down his lyrics for the ladies, not to mention “She’s The One”, yet another dated attempt at making a club-banger. Royce also wastes some precious mic-time on “D-Elite Part 1″, where his crew of lesser-talented friends makes D12 look good, as well as the always-mandatory down-south bounce track, “Let’s Go”, featuring Twista.

So, the problem with the U.K.’s version of Rock City is that it seems like Columbia may have been pushing Royce to make these types of songs so that he could quickly gain the same mass appeal that his peer group of Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nas have, but the result has instead been disastrous. In order for Royce to avoid a Canibus-like future, it seems that the re-recording of this album is imperative. But good things are on the horizon, a report from the fan site Royceworld.com reads as follows:

After heavy bootlegging last year Royce Da 5’9 was forced to scrap the original cuts from his debut LP under Columbia, Rock City, and start fresh. The 24-year old Rapper is currently in NYC recording 7 new joints for the album, with production from Premier, Track Masters, Rush and possibly another Eminem joint. Royce is not only re-doing his album he is also changing the feel and the people around him, his former managers Jack and Nikki Ponti were let go for terms “unknown”. Royce’s manager Kino Childrey stated “We are going to take it back to the streets, we tried to expose Royce to a different scene of rap too fast”.

Thankfully, Royce and his camp see where the mistakes were made. It took both Nas and Jay-Z five albums to reach the point where they are today, and it may take Royce just as long. But thinking back to Illmatic and Reasonable Doubt, both were raw interpretations of the two artists, untouched by industry evils, and both are classic albums that helped shape them into the artists they are today. Hopefully, when Royce’s album lands on U.S. shores, Rock City will do the same, by taking a more of a “from the ground up” approach. Otherwise, it’s a long way down.