Average Rating: 8.7/10
Overall Rating: 8.2/10
Overall Rating: 8.2/10
1. Legendary Ft. Travis Barker (4/10)
2. Writer’s Block Ft. Eminem (10/10)
3. Merry Go Round (10/10)
4. Where My Money (10/10)
5. ER Ft. Kid Vishis (10/10)
6. On The Boulevard Ft. Nortzz & Adonis (9/10)
7. I Ain’t Coming Down (10/10)
8. Security (8/10)
9. Second Place (7/10)
10. My Own Planet Ft. Big Sean (8/10)
11. I’ve Been Up, I’ve Been Down (10/10)
12. My Own Planet (Remix) Ft. Joe Budden (8/10)
Royce has never got the credit he deserved commercially. He always has a superb flow, incredible lyrical ability, really strong wordplay, and he seems to choose the right type of beats and the right people to work with for his music. But things might change right now, for two reasons, the first is because he was just signed to Emienm’s label Shady Records, which will for sure give him some help, if not a lot of help, and the second was the Bad Meets Evil EP, which debuted as #1 on the US Billboard hot 100, and is still an ongoing strong and successful project, so with that said, can Royce build up his best music quality for what’s possibly going to be his biggest album commercially?
Success is Certain is, in a way, loosely a sequel to one of the best albums I have ever heard, and one of the best albums of modern day hip-hop, “Death Is Certain”, which was about failing and going down in life, which generally gave that album a really dark theme, and now, seven years later, the sequel to Death Is Certain, “Success is Certain” came out, and it was about Royce’s road to success, his struggles and generally just getting to the point where he is right now, so with a strong theme and concept set for this album, can it live up its hype as to being a sequel to the great Death is Certain?
The songs on the album strongly stick to the theme of the album. There were some songs that where simply just Royce bragging on his lyrical skills, like “Second Place”, “ER” or “Legendary”. Some songs on his feelings on his success, like the two My Own Planet tracks. Some songs on his road to success, like “I’ve Been Up, I’ve Been Down”, “Merry Go Round” or “On The Boulevard”. Some songs where about how he wants to keep that success, songs like “Writer’s Block” or “Where My Money” are great examples and lastly, a song that is simply just a raw and emotional track during his road to success, which was the Proof tribute “Security”.
The album keep’s Royce’s strong rhyming style and his strong wordplay, particularly in songs like “Writer’s Block” one of the best songs on the album, “ER” a song on how Royce is saving hip-hop, “Merry Go Round” the best track on the album, “Where My Money” another standout track, “I Ain’t Coming Down” and “I’ve Been Up, I’ve Been Down “ which was about the best and worst time periods during his road to success, those where really the biggest highlight of the album, and some of the best songs Royce recorded in his entire career.
The album did have one big flaw though; it was that some songs went off beat. “Second Place” was good, but it went off beat too much, especially in that victory laugh line. “Security” was good, but a bit disappointing because of it going off beat at some point, and “Legendary” was the worst track on the album, and possibly the worst track of Royce’s career, it had a good beat and hook, but Royce’s verses where far too offbeat to make this song successful, or an enjoyable song at the very least.
Success is Certain is overall not nearly as good as Death is Certain, and honestly it’s his second worst album to “Independence Day”. It was a bit of a disappointment and it didn’t really live up to what Royce did in most of his previous albums, and what he really can do. But still, it was generally a great album, while it was a flawed album, and probably not the way he would have wanted to debut in Shady, especially When comparing this album to his older work. But still, it was a great enough album to attract a fairly good group of new, music hungry Shady fans, or any fans close to that.
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