Like Black Thought, Royce Da 5'9" is one of rap's handful of masters; the type to take something like a Funkmaster Flex freestyle very seriously. What was once the premiere platform for up-and-coming rappers, it seems like the radio freestyle is beginning to hold the same weight it did in the late '90s/early '00s, and it's thanks to the OGs like Royce and Tariq.
Honestly, I could have picked any one of the four verses he spit in those 11 minutes for this column, but decided to go with the first one because of its "get on the 'Gram wearin' a Roc Nation hat" line. A lot of cats will have you thinking they work for Roc Nation due to those hats and I'm glad somebody called them out. Royce went so hard, Black Thought had to send him a DM to acknowledge that he might've gotten beat. (I like Black Thought's freestyle a little better, for the record.)
Whatever the case, we appreciate the elders setting the bar when it comes to Flex freestyles in the Year of Our Lord 2018. Roc Marciano took home last month's best rap verse for his verse on "Muse," now it's Nickle's turn.
"I'm ridin' with the K solo, I'm spellbound
Used to ride with Delilah and Nicole in the Fairmount
I'm who incite the riot, you the guy at the staredown
I worked at Taco Bell, now I just fire the shell rounds
Now somewhere in the air lies the truth like a thunderstorm
I terrorize the youth as if I'm gunnin' for 'em
I could've jogged here, I marathon the booth and let it run its course
The R's here I'm paralyzin' you like the underscore
Your riders couldn't impress my chauffeurs
Your favorite artist couldn't benchpress my notebook
I transcend like Wu-Tang, the R era's cash rules
Now I'm just dead nice, the pallbearer of bad news
Shouts to all my niggas out there in the locks of crime
Remember they can lock your body but can't lock your mind
You lack triumph when you stop the grind
You rappers Blac Chyna, went and got your bread and went and got behind
Gun professor, I'll punch whoever
Come here lookin' like Conor McGregor
Leave this bitch lookin' like Uncle Fester
Question, are we bitter rivals?
'Cause we can shoot the Ks or the fade
'Til both of our arms get vitiligo
I stay in my prime, y'all niggas just sippin' on scotch
I stayed with my nine, y'all niggas just live with your pops
I sit in the original lyrical pivotal spot
Even though I changed with the time like digital clocks
Either goin' straight for the kill
Gun-slingin' or I'm goin' straight up Jada and Will, I come swingin'
I write for B.I.G. and 2Pac
I'm rollin' like the prices on the coupe dropped
I'm dolo like a sniper's on the rooftop
I'm sicker though, I'm feelin' like the flu shot
I shit on every artist on the charts and leave a diaper on the jukebox
My mind's like the Japan bullet train, it floats in cycles
Rhyme full of pain, spoken right out the smokin' rifle
They wanna see me tweetin', "Yo man, who need a feature?"
I'd rather squeeze until the Colt jam like Lisa Lisa
I'm 5'9" givin' niggas them 6'9" fears
We can battle like them Grind Time kids
How about this, how about I take your wifey on tour with me
And never give her back, same way my nigga Big Sean did
I go hard 'til 2088, my father was crazy like Hailie Jade
StillI I was born a Saint like Baby Ye
I prayed hard and only God I fear
You just plain playin' God, lookin' like James Harden without his beard
These niggas hoes, man it's sickening
They only goals is get some golds and bitches and
Get on the 'Gram wearin' a Roc Nation hat
But anybody who's anybody knows
The closest they ever came to seeing HOV was....
But anybody who's anybody knows
The closest they ever came to seeing HOV was bein' witnesses
So run along with your little microwave hits
All you niggas is my light work like the day shift"
Go get that PRhyme 2.
