Royce Da 5’9” is an American rapper who is especially known for his collaboration with the world known rapper named Eminem.
He is especially appreciated for his skilled songwriting since he made a number of hits for Puff Diddy and Dr.Dre and is considered as a very creative person.
He is also known as Nickel Nine, not only Royce. He has many nicknames in social media and many people seem to be liking this. They spend time making up new ones.
Early years
He was born as Ryan Daniel Montgomery on July 5, 1977, in the town of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, in the United States.
He lived there until he was 10 years old when he moved to Oak Park, a city in Michigan county. He said that it was quite hard for him to get used to the new tempo, but he eventually made it.
He soon gained the nickname Royce, due to the fact that he wore a chain with an R pendant during high school so his fellow students named him Royce. It was because the pendant R truly reminded of the symbol for the Rolls Royce.
The numbers following his stage name come from his height which is 5 feet and 9 inches. But he feels that these numbers are also very important in other spheres of his life and that they follow the main events in his life.
In 1995 (again 5 and 9!) he discovered that his true calling is becoming a rapper. In one of his songs named „Tabernade” he also discovered that his grandmum died on the 5th floor of a country hospital and that his son was born on the 9th. He discovered 5 and 9 in a few more things during life.
He was 18 when he started the same serious rapping, following his role models such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. This was a huge achievement in his life and he felt as if he was becoming more famous each day thanks to the collaboration.
He soon gained notoriety and in 1998 he signed a contract with an independent record label named „Tommy Boy Records“. This was a pretty interesting deal he got and it has led him to many happy and successful moments later on.
This label offered him $1 million which was four times higher than he was offered by Aftermath Entertainment and Dr. Dre. That is why he took Tommy Boy’s offer but later regret it ’cause he felt like he would make great collaborations with Dr.Dre.
The label shut down and Royce had to change the label. He turned to Columbia Records and started working on his new album named „Rock City“. This debut album came out in 2002 and gained low ratings.
It peaked at No. 7. on US Independent Albums Billboard Chart but it was so long delayed that he changed his label to Koch. His first notable work was a single „Boom“ which was produced by DJ Premier.
Royce’s manager was Kino Childrey and he introduced him to Eminem in 1997. Eminem liked his work and they formed a duo in a single „Bad Meets Evil“. This was a really cool thing for both of them and they enjoyed spending time together as well.
They have released a track named „Renegade“. Royce was one of the artists featured on Eminem’s first big album „The Slim Shady“.
Eminem helped Royce by introducing him to Dr. Dre who was interested in working with him but insisted that Royce fire his manager Kino Childrey. Since Royce refused to do so they never continued their working relationship.
Royce had a public dispute with a hip hop group named D12 and was especially aiming one of the members named Bizzare. He released three diss tracks against them: „Shit On You“, „Malcolm X“ and „In Da Club“.
The group responded by their diss tracks: „SmackDown”, „Many Men” and „Beff is Ova”. In 2013, one of the members of D12 called Proof and their accidental meeting in front of one Detroit club grown to a fight which ended by police arrival.
Both Proof and Royce were arrested but they resolved their differences while sharing a cell overnight. This ended the feud. The proof that the feud was over was the fact that Royce guest appeared on D12 mixtape titled „Return of the Dozen”.
He even joined their European and Canadian tour. It was a huge thing for him and it helped him widen his fanbase even more.
In 2015 Royce was featured on their track again, this time in „The Devil’s Nigh Mixtape“. He was happy that this happened since his social media stats were getting better and better.
Royce’s label was Game Recordings. In 2001 he made several recordings for this label, mostly for the soundtrack of a highly popular video game titled „Grand Theft Auto III”.
In 2001, he made an appearance on a single from Willa Ford, a pop artist, on his song „I Wanna Be Bad“. This was a big hit back in the day.
In 2004, Royce’s most popular album was released under the name „Death is Certain”. It went really high on the charts, as his single „Hip-Hop” also did.
In 2005, he released his 3rd studio album named „Independent’s Day“ which was released by M.I.C. Records and had guests like Cee Lo Green and Sarah Strokes. The album wasn’t received with huge acclaim.
In 2005 Royce ended up in prison for driving under influence and he was released from prison in 2007.
After getting out of jail he started working with DJ Premier and Statik Selektah on their mixtape called „The Bar Exam“. Royce also made lyrics for a song „Tell Me“ which he wrote for Diddy.
In 2008 Royce released the mixtape „The Bar Exam 2“ in collaboration with DJ Green Lantern. He also started working on his 4th studio album released in 2009, but this time by One Records. It was named „Street Hop“ and was produced by DJ Premier.
He collaborated with Joe Budden on his track called „Slaughterhouse“. It was released digitally through Halfway House.
The songs were very well received so all the artists from this track decided to create a hip hop group called „Slaughterhouse”. Their first album named again „Slaughterhouse” was released in 2009.
In 2011 the group signed to Shady Records and released their second album next year. „Welcome to Our House” was released in 2012.
In 2011 he first appeared in a series aired on MTV named „RapFix Live“. He said it was very cool to be on TV and he even thought of making his own show.
In 2011, Royce and Eminem released a new album, „Hell: The Sequel“ by Shady Records. Many of the songs of this album were used on movie soundtracks, like for „The Hangover 2“. This album reached Gold sales.
In 2011 his 5th album named „Success is Certain“ was released.
In 2014 he released a collaboration album with DJ Premier called „8Prhyme” and a year later they announce da new one. This one wasn’t released until 2018, under the name „Prhymez 2″.
In 2016 he released a studio album, sixth in the row, titled „Layers“.
His last album was released in spring, 2018 under the name „Book of Ryan“. It is his seventh album and is released by his own label named Heaven Studios.
The album came to No.24 on Billboard charts.
The album features several hip hop stars including Eminem, Jadakiss, Pusha-T and others.
Personal life
As for his personal life, we have a lot to talk about. Royce is a former alcoholic and has been sober since 2012.
He is married to his high school sweetheart, whom he met in Oak Park High School. They started dating as graduates.
His wife is a very patient and loving wife but he almost ruined his marriage due to alcoholism and infidelity she later was forgiven.
She stood by his side which he is now aware of and tries to repay his debt to her.
Royce has 5 kids, three daughters, and two sons.
Sons are named James and Trenton.
Royce grew up alongside his brother Marcus who also became a rapper with a stage name „Kid Vishis”. He has one album released, „Timing Is Everything” from 2014.
His stage look almost always includes a baseball cap and he is also rarely seen without it anywhere.
He is a big supporter of „Black Lives Matter“, an activist movement which campaigns not only against racism but also against violence and hate towards the African-American people.
He has over 600 k followers on his Instagram channel and posts a lot of motivation posts on it.
He also posts photos of his children because they are very precious to him. Their photos are mostly commented with a sentence such as: “The only thing that matters”, and similar.
Quick summary
Full name: Ryan Daniel Montgomery
Date of birth: July 5, 1977
Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, United States
Age: 42
Profession: Rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 76 kgs
Net Worth: $10 million