To put it short, Royce 5'9' has created the best album of his life, and if this years trend of mediocre releases continue; then he has undoubtedly created one of the best albums of the year.

Nickel Nine does what all MC's should do. He doesn't hold back and pours his heart out on every track. It's as if he went into this saying, forget what the label and industry wants me to make, forget the radio execs; I'm going to do what I want, how I want.

In 'I and Me' 5'9' makes it more than clear that he is not satisfied with his current situation with the opening verse. 'How can I go from rockin' with Dre, to falling out with Shady, to poppin' my glock on the block, to droppin' on Koch.'

'I Promise' reveals his inner thoughts and discussions that he has with his maker. Royce pleads for divine intervention to aid his career, and in return he promises to honor his family and travel the straight and narrow.

It is this type of honesty and creativity that makes this album a damn near classic.
It is a shame that a quality album like this has to come out on Koch records, which is notorious for poor distribution and promotion. Go to your local record store, if it's even in the store, I'll bet it's not on display on the new release shelf.

The one issue I did find with Royce, is that he spent a little too much time dwelling on his broken relationship with Eminem.

If you wanted to show someone what the definition of a real MC is, you will have to give these albums. NAS ' Illmatic, KRS-ONE ' Criminal Minded, Jay-Z ' Reasonable Doubt, and Royce 5'9' ' Death is Certain.

What does one man have to do to get the full support and backing of a major label. Oh, I remember. Come up with another variation of a hook for shaking your ass, and put Lil' Jon on it. WHAAAAAT!