Royal has had a rather calculated rise to success, repeatedly predicating his work on massive amounts of anticipation. He made his presence known on his edits and refix work for months before he even teased the idea of an original. Now that he's grown comfortable with his own productions, he's crossed the streams of electro-pop and hip-hop for a seriously forward-thinking collaboration with surprising newcomer rhyme-spitter Desktop called "Round 2."
While acknowledging it's a tad kitschy from the jump, the tune really does mark a comfortable cross-pollination of musical trends, from the tasteful pop sensibilities explored by Royal's production to Desktop's autotuned rap-crooning that sounds like some Drake meets Yung Lean type of shit. Undoubtedly an 8-bit flavored attempt to make a wave on the popular side of the electronic music world, it's an effort that certainly is catering to a crowd, but isn't selling any soul to do so. Worth a listen and a share if you got a shorty who keeps it fooling around on round one, with a free download via Royal's website as well. This is also the first tune to premiere from Royal's forthcoming Cycles EP, due out January 26 on Octal Sound.
