Royce Da 5'9 took exception to recent comments made by fellow rap veteran Fredro Starr. Starr seemed to be mocking Royce during a recent appearance on the Rappers Ballers Podcast. Fredro deemed Royce a "nerd rap" artist and poked a little fun at the Detroit rapper's latest album title.
"That’s my man. Look, I was on tour with Royce Da 5'9," Fredro said. "That's my nigga. We was on the Nelly tour together ... But I was tryna say that he would be in the nerd part of rap. That don’t mean you not a street nigga, though."
Fredro explained what makes an artist a nerd rapper.
"Niggas that read books, niggas that, you know, the nerdy niggas," he said. Then he referenced Royce's album. "What's the name of this nigga's last album? Royce Da 5'9? ... It was like some ill word."
"The Allegory," Lathan clarified.
"I've never heard of that word until I heard him say it," Fredro said.
Royce didn't appreciate the tone of Starr's comments. While acknowledging the Onyx rapper's legacy, and declaring he has no problem being considered "backpacker" rap, Royce made it clear he didn't like the way Fredro characterized him. He addressed the commentary via Instagram.
"If you follow me then you know, you never seen me play with niggas and you never seen niggas play with me. I don’t let niggas play with me," Royce said. "What I don't like to do is I don’t like to play games, there's too much going on in the world right now. Like it's a very serious time."
"I appreciate you calling me your man," he continued. "But I would be remissed to not be completely transparent with you right now, legend, and let you know I am not your man. I have no desire whatsoever to build any sort of relationship with you moving forward, just so we clear. So there's no reason for you to ever fucking play with me again ... Save that playing shit for a nigga that you playing with that's playing with you back. And I won’t come fuck over you."
"And I’m not gonna say it again, Fredro Starr. You keep being a legend, and I'ma keep doing what the fuck I do. Next time you mention me, you mention me and you give me the compliments or whatever you wanna give me, and you leave all that extra shit out of it, because it’s something that come with that. Bless that."