Royce Da 5′ 9″ is setting his eyes on the future.
The Detroit emcee has laid low in recent times, but that does not mean he has not been working. Quite the opposite is true. He’s also embarked on a collection of new experiences that will certainly forge a pathway to the future. This includes new music, a VR venture called the Heaven Experience and intense mentorship. Royce says earnestly, “I’ve been taking a lot of breaks. I like breaks. I need breaks. You know what I mean? But I make sure that I express to my sons how important it is for them not to take breaks.”
Times have changed since Ryan Montgomery hit the scene with the likes of Eminem. In fact, everything has changed, from the people, the music, and most importantly – it seems – the technology. Neither the metaverse nor artificial intelligence are new, conceptually or in reality. What is new is how each’s use has increased at an amazingly rapid rate recently.
Platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning rapper now has his own virtual platform to engage, educate and entertain his fans. The “The Heaven Experience” is Web3 with a uniquely Hip-Hop twist. It also creates a community with access to songs, performances, interviews, VIP events, and more. Check out some highlights from this chat with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur and check out the full video, straight from Heaven.
WHAT WILL VR STRIP CLUBS BE LIKE IN THE FUTURE?
Royce: What about strip clubs?
Chuck Creekmur: Bruh, I think they’re going to find a way.
Royce: I can’t wait to see them figure this s### out. It’s not possible. I don’t think it’s possible.
Chuck Creekmur: You might have to buy some extra things. But yeah, I think they …
Royce: You going to have to have a hell of an imagination.
Chuck Creekmur: Yo, I don’t know. So wait, wait. So wait. Somebody helped you with this experience. What if they say, “Yo, Royce, we could add a strip club on the sidewalk over here, and you walk into this strip club experience. You got to buy Suzy the Android. Cost you $1,000.”
Royce: Yeah. The Android lap dance?
Chuck Creekmur: Yeah, the Android lap dance. And then you get another experience. It’s only a matter of time.
Royce: Yeah, yeah. It’s definitely doable. I just know you use the word, your senses. So I mean you can’t touch her. You can’t physically touch her, and you can’t smell her. That’s not possible for AI.
Chuck Creekmur: Okay. So everything’s up here, right? Everything’s up here. Even your sense of smell is here. I don’t know how they would do it, but they can probably simulate even you thinking you smelling something, I think. That’s what I think.
Royce: That’s spooky.
Chuck Creekmur: It is spooky. 10 years. I give it five. I’ll give it five years. Five, maybe 10 because-
ROYCE’S THOUGHTS ON A.I. (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
Royce: I think it’s interesting. I think I’m open to seeing exactly what’s going to start to come from having this tool. I think it’s going to be either a tool or a weapon, depending on how you use it. It’s one of those things where you don’t get to choose to play in the game or not. You just in it. So I think those who accept it as that and can take it and just start trying to make adjustments to it, I think will be the ones who will be in the best space later on down the line. But it’s here. It’s coming. You know what I mean?
But just like with anything that can be a tool online, it can also be used as a weapon. I seen something where there were people who were getting phone calls. A lady would get a phone call, and it would be somebody on the other line saying that they have her daughter or her son and they want ransom money. But then they’ll put her on the phone with who she thinks is her daughter like, “Mommy, please come with the money.” It’ll be something small, like $500.
They’ll just give it up in a state of panic. Come to find out you were just talking to A.I.
HOW IT FEELS DROPPING NEW MUSIC AND WHY THINGS ARE COMPLICATED
Royce: Yeah. I mean it feels good. It feels good. I mean the music is just a byproduct of the experience. You know what I mean? I’ve been releasing music for 20+ years, so it’s like I’m more so … There’s a level of due diligence that I’m doing right now. I’m taking more comfortable steps into the future while I’m figuring things out. Musically, I can give you that however you want it. You know what I’m saying? That’s not even a challenge anymore. You know what I mean?
So now it’s like I got music sitting around. I got ideas. I record all the time. You know what I’m saying? It’s turning into the same old song and dance to me. You know what I mean? How to make it fun and not feel like work is what the challenge is. You know what I mean? So that’s kind of my feelings on it, to answer your question. That’s how I feel about the music at the moment.
But I kind of feel like that about music in general as a fan. As a fan, I don’t have the same attachment to it because I feel like everything is becoming neat. I feel like that the gray area that used to be there is kind of gone now. So I feel like you got either mainstream or you have niche in every category that you can think so. It’s turning into people just focusing on their demographic, and they’re doing it strictly for them. So you could be a huge star, and it be in your own world.
It used to be like that. When Get Rich or Die Tryin’ came out, probably the last physical copy sold album of that magnitude, you couldn’t escape it. Stop at a red light, you hear it in somebody’s car. You go to the mall, a different song off the album’s playing out of every store, all over the radio, all over everything. You couldn’t escape it. Now it’s now that people can kind of curate their own lives, you could be huge and somebody would have never heard none of your songs if they didn’t go and decide to engage in your universe.
I think that’s the way that the world is turning. You know what I mean? With that being said, it’s kind of changing my experience as a fan a little bit along with what you just said, too, that you’re going through. As I get older, it’s certain s### that I just don’t want to hear. You know what I mean? I don’t want to sit and listen to “shoot ’em up rap” all day.
For more go to heavenexperience.com.