Review: Royce Da 5'9 – The Revival EP
Ladies and gentlemen, Nickle Nine presents The Revival EP. A four-track release, The Revival only runs for a shade less than 15 minutes, however the EP is aggressive and serves as an establishing tool to familiarize new listeners to Royce -his flow, his style, his persona and his crew – despite two of the tracks (“Warriors” and “Gun Harmonizing”) having already been leaked.
The EP begins with “Gun Harmonizing,” the most creative track on the release. A light, piano-driven track with a minimal drum kit and a far-away chorus attached to it gives the song a cool, modern jazz sound to it which is in direct contradiction to Royce’s aggressive lyrics and scatting during the hook where he mimics the sound of guns “harmonizing.”
The second track, “Count For Nothing,” is a throwaway track. Royce flows on and on about his resume with “gun harmonizing” as he illuminates the uninitiated with his view of the game and how he’s about to take it back from rappers who probably count as much as nothing. Slight wordplay and a funny Lindsay Lohan line keep the track buoyant but it lands as the EP’s weakest.
“Warriors (feat. Slaughterhouse)” starts out with a single horn and piano playing in the background as a sultry voice gives a concise “Dick Tracy” style recount of a “murder” that took place the previous night. The horn and voice make the song seem like it’s being performed from a street cafe in New Orleans on a hot, muggy night. The team goes in on the shrill horn and snare drum-heavy beat and end up leaving another beat dead in the gutter.
The EP has “Street Hop 2010″ bat clean-up. Musically, the best track on the release – the beat continues utilizing the small drum kit but has strings that provide a haunting musical refrain over a brass section that seems to wax and wane unflinchingly and impersonably. Lyrically, Royce spends 2:53 telling the tale of hip-hop’s bleak current landscape and alludes to bringing real “Street Hop” (maybe an album?) to the game. 
People Are Talking