Royce da 5’9″ Details Health Battle That Nearly Ended His Rap Career

November 04, 2025

Royce da 5’9″ pushed through a debilitating neurological condition while helping shape Big L’s posthumous project, revealing in a new interview that he spent years battling lingual dystonia—a rare disorder that disrupted his ability to speak and nearly halted his music career. “There’s some kind of interruption in the nerve firing off in my tongue,” […]

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Royce da 5’9″ pushed through a debilitating neurological condition while helping shape Big L’s posthumous project, revealing in a new interview that he spent years battling lingual dystonia—a rare disorder that disrupted his ability to speak and nearly halted his music career.

“There’s some kind of interruption in the nerve firing off in my tongue,” Royce said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, reflecting on his health struggles during the production of Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King. The disorder caused involuntary spasms in his tongue, making it difficult to talk, let alone deliver his signature complex rhymes.

The Detroit rapper said his condition stemmed from a deeper set of neurological issues. “My cranial nerves and my vagus nerve were all inflamed. I got a genetic condition called the COMT gene that processes dopamine slower than normal,” he said. “And when I did a neurochemistry test, [I found out] the left hemisphere of my brain produces less dopamine than the right. So not only is it less dopamine, but it’s an imbalance as well.”

Low dopamine levels can trigger symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease and ADHD. Royce explained, “When your dopamine is low, that’s like Parkinson’s, ADHD… I had involuntary movements in my face and in my tongue. So they went on this long thing where they would put me on all these different kinds of medicines.”

Doctors initially misdiagnosed his symptoms, prolonging his struggle. But after years of treatment and testing, he’s finally regaining control. Royce confirmed he’s “almost through it,” adding that he’s now back in the studio.

The timing of his recovery aligned with the release of Harlem’s Finest, which dropped on Halloween 2025. Royce served as executive co-producer on the album, which features appearances from Nas, Method Man, Mac Miller, JAY-Z and Joey Bada$$.

“I wish I was recording when we were doing this album,” he said, expressing regret over the creative time lost while managing his health.

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