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Royce Da 5'9 speaks on seeing Rakim arrested during performance at Hammerstein Ballroom.
DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9, the Hip Hop duo known as PRhyme, kicked off their interview with NW3 (Now Where Were We) Radio by speaking on a handful of past shows and shows that didn’t quite come to fruition.
Among the performances that didn’t materialize was a Gang Starr appearance at a Rock The Bells reunion show. While speaking on the show, DJ Premier revealed that he was offered $1 million and then $2 million to perform at the Rock The Bells reunion.
Unfortunately, the producer said the reunion show took place around the same time fellow Gang Starr member Guru was diagnosed with cancer.
“Peter [Oasis] saw me walking down the street one day,” DJ Premier said. “And it was when they were talking about getting me and Guru together to do a Gang Starr show and they offered us a million dollars. And the message never got to Guru through funny channels. And then he saw me on the street again and goes ‘Hey, what if I make it $2 million?’ And I was like ‘I’ll get in touch with Guru.’ And actually that was around the time when Guru got cancer and all the things started to go downhill from there. But that would have been a beautiful thing. I would have done it for a million, shit.”
During the interview, Royce Da 5’9 also offered his own story about one of his performances. The Slaughterhouse rapper recalled serving as opening performer at a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and later seeing Rakim arrested while at the show.
“I remember that. I don’t normally remember things. I definitely remember that,” Royce Da 5’9 said. “That was a wild day. Rakim getting arrested is something I will never forget. Everybody was like starstruck. And then he came walking in it was like ‘Oh my God, the God.’ It was like ‘Okay, you’re under arrest.’ Everybody was just like ‘Wait a minute! What are you doing?’ It was not cool to be a police officer that day. Especially not these days, but that particular day it was crazy.”