Last week, Royce 5'9" stopped by the Complex offices to sit down with our Editor-in-Chief Noah Callahan-Bever to speak in-depth on his career, getting sober, and more. The inimitable Detroit rapper is currently gearing up to release his new album, Layers, next month, and spoke on the journey towards his upcoming project, which includes his decision to get sober back in 2012. "I just woke up one day and I felt like I was up," he says. "I made the necessary phone calls. I called Marshall [Mathers] and said, 'Yo, I'm stopping drinking.'"

He and NCB reminisced on meeting 20 years ago out in Los Angeles with Eminem, and spoke on the Flint water crisis as well as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, among other things. Royce also explains why he turned down a $250,000 record deal and unlimited beats from Dr. Dre early on in his career. Layers, which is executive produced by Royce and Mr. Porter, will be released on April 15 via Bad Half Entertainment/INgrooves. You can pre-order it on iTunes here, and peep the interview above.