al·le·go·ry

/ˈaləˌɡôrē/

noun

1. a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Royce Da 5’9” chimes in on America’s both best and worst kept secrets with his eighth album release. Tracks like “Black Savages”, “Overcomer”, “I Don’t Age”, and “Upside Down” all were used as singles, or released songs to show a very direct peek into where Royce was going to take the consumers. I’ve been saying over that last year or so that Royce has been tapping into the more “mature” version of “Bad Meets Evil” counterpart Eminem, and this album may prove that point. “The Book of Ryan” Royce’s previous album was a masterpiece. It was riveting; it has top-tier lyricism, vivid story-telling, and the core and guts of everything hip-hop is supposed to be. Quite frankly I was doubtful Royce, or anyone for that matter, would be able top the importance and execution of his memoir themed album. I prepped myself; I tried to lower my expectations as much as I could, even after hearing “Upside Down” a week before the album’s release. I was eager, I was nervous, but I was ready.

The Allegory, starts with an intense father-son dialogue, which immediately brought me back to the assignment Royce’s son was trying to finish by writing about his inspiring figures, I’ll explain why later. In the previous album’s skit skit titled “Who are you?” Royce’s son states;

“The objective of the paper is to go in depths about the figure in our lives that we find inspiring, the one we look up to. I wanted to do mines about you. I remember the title I had for it and I was—I was thinking of calling it, The Book of Ryan. I was kinda sitting and trying to get in the first paragraph and I started to realize how difficult it is to write

How can I write the paper of my father when I don't know who he is? So I guess the first question is, "Who are you?" - Genius

“Mr. Grace” the intro track, involves a father quizzing his son on the things they do not teach you in school, with important perspectives on life, values, morals, and being able to foreshadow what may become required assets. Such as, how to say “Bartering System” in Spanish. “If I gave you a million dollars would you buy candy, or a candy store?” the child responds “A candy store”. The importance of knowing the value of ownership, property, and being a seller opposed to a buyer are things that are easily lost in America’s social subliminal message. The father asks his son “If I celebrate every holiday and birthday but you have to beg for a job at 18, what have I done for you?” his son replies “failed me financially.” That sent a shiver down my spine. This feels like the conversations Royce maybe missed out on during his son’s upbringing which lead his son to ask him “Who are you?”. Royce follows up the dialogue with some well-laced spoken word. Fuck he can rap, like, he can rap, rap. Rhyming “slavery law” with “period”, and expressing his stance and perspective on what has happened to his people, and what his people continue to accept, all much to his disapproval. This album feels powerful already.