Royce da 5'9"

Ryan Daniel Montgomery (born July 5, 1977), known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper.

Royce's name comes from his height, 5 ft, but the numbers five and nine have been in his life numerous times as he "found his calling" as a rapper in 1995 and in his song "Tabernacle" he discusses his grandmother dying on the fifth floor of a hospital and his first son being born on the ninth.

He started rapping at age 18, influenced mainly by Ras Kass, Redman, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Esham, Heltah Skeltah, LL Cool J, Nas, Jay-Z, Detroit's Most Wanted, and N.W.A.

Best known for his association with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, they became acquainted in 1997 and formed the hip hop duo, Bad Meets Evil the following year.

Through his manager Kino Childrey, Royce was introduced to fellow Detroit rapper Eminem on December 29, 1997.

The two formed a duo, Bad Meets Evil, and released several tracks together.

On August 20, 1998, they appeared on The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show for the first time.

Royce signed his first recording contract in 1998, a $1-million deal with Tommy Boy Records.

Royce appeared on Eminem's debut studio album The Slim Shady LP (1999), in which he was featured on a song called "Bad Meets Evil".

They later collaborated on the track "Renegade", from which Royce's vocals would later be replaced with Jay-Z's on the latter's The Blueprint.

Through Eminem, Royce was introduced to both Dr. Dre and execs at Game Recordings, but they parted ways after Royce refused Dre's request that he cut ties with Childrey.

Royce signed with Game Recordings, for whom he had recorded several tracks for the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto III, released in 2001.

The in-game radio station, Game Radio FM, prominently featured Royce's "I'm the King" and The Alchemist-produced solo track, which (along with the publicized beef) helped elevate Royce's name beyond his association with Eminem.

In 2001, Royce was featured on pop singer Willa Ford's song "I Wanna Be Bad".

Montgomery first embarked on a solo career with his debut studio album, Rock City in 2002; it was originally set to be released the year prior, but disputes with Columbia Records led it to an independent release. He released eight follow-up studio albums to critical acclaim; his latest, The Allegory (2020), earned Montgomery his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album in 2021. He also formed the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse with Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Kxng Crooked in 2008. The group released two studio albums, the latter of which through Eminem's Shady Records, a decision initiated by Montgomery. The group later disbanded in 2018. In 2014, he formed the hip hop duo PRhyme with producer DJ Premier.

In an interview with DJ Vlad, Royce stated that his first stage name was "R-Dog", which was short-lived.

He moved to Oak Park, Michigan when he was ten years old, later acquiring the nickname "Royce" in high school after wearing a chain with an R pendant resembling the Rolls-Royce symbol.

After Tommy Boy Records shut down, he signed a deal with Columbia and Game Recordings where he started recording an album called Rock City, referring to Detroit's former status as home to Motown Records. When the project was heavily bootlegged, Royce was dropped from Columbia in early 2002; he later signed to Koch, where he re-recorded some of the album, eventually releasing it on November 29 as Rock City (Version 2.0). Despite poor album sales, the DJ Premier-produced single "Boom" gained Royce some underground recognition and eventually resulted in the two working together more closely.

In 2002, Royce had a falling out with D12 including mutual friend and group member Proof, which sparked a public rivalry that resulted in Royce releasing a total of three diss tracks.

The first, "Shit on You", was recorded over the instrumental of D12's track of the same name and mainly attacked group member Bizarre.

Following Royce's second track, "Malcolm X", D12 responded with "Smack Down", over the instrumental of 50 Cent's "Back Down".

Proof himself released the tracks "Many Men", over the instrumental of 50 Cent's "Many Men (Wish Death)"; and "Beef Is Ova", with rap group The Purple Gang.

Royce responded with his third track, "Death Day", recorded over 50 Cent's "In Da Club".

Proof confronted Royce outside a Detroit nightclub in 2003, which led to a fight between both rappers' entourages.

Proof and Royce were arrested and jailed overnight in adjacent cells, where they talked out their differences and ended the feud.

In 2004, he released his second and most critically successful album to date, Death Is Certain, charting with another Premier-produced single, "Hip Hop".

After the relative success of his second effort, Royce put out a third solo project, Independent's Day, in 2005.

This was met with less acclaim than either of his previous releases.

During this time, the rivalry between Royce and former friend Proof reached a boiling point in the streets of Detroit, on an occasion where the two rappers drew guns; they were subsequently arrested and left to work out their differences while spending the night in neighboring cells in jail.

The time spent in jail led to the artists ending their feud and subsequently embarking on two overseas tours together.

Though Royce had planned other projects involving Nottz and his former crew, D-Elite, these were cut short after a sentencing to one year in jail for a DUI.

After his release in 2007, Royce with DJ Premier and Statik Selektah released the mixtape The Bar Exam.

He also announced an album with Premier; in an interview with Elemental Magazine, Royce stated that, contrary to rumors, Premier would not be producing the entirety of his upcoming album, but will be overseeing the project as executive producer, handpicking all of the beats.

Following The Bar Exam, Royce wrote the single for Diddy's album Press Play, "Tell Me".

Following this, the producer expressed interest in signing the lyricist to Bad Boy.

Nas has also stated that he would like to sign Royce to his Def Jam imprint, The Jones Experience.

Their rivalry officially ended in 2008 when he was featured on D12's mixtapes Return of the Dozen and The Devil's Night Mixtape.

Their 2011 single, "Lighters" (featuring Bruno Mars) peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded the release of their debut extended play (EP), Hell: The Sequel (2011).

The song and its parent EP, of which debuted atop the Billboard 200, remain Montgomery's most commercially successful recordings to date.

He had rejected an offer beforehand from Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment of $250,000 and unlimited beats, a move that he called his "biggest regret" in a 2016 interview with Complex.