Credit: Royce Da 5′9″

Royce Da 5’9″ has opened up about his battle with lingual dystonia. The Detroit rapper has been dealing with the neurological condition for several years.

The medical condition causes spasms that stop him from talking and recording music, with Royce saying, “There’s some kind of interruption in the nerve firing off in my tongue.”

During an interview with Rolling Stone, he went into detail about how the condition affects his brain in a similar way to Parkinson’s and ADHD.

“My cranial nerves and my vagus nerve were all inflamed,” he said. “I got a genetic condition called the COMT gene that processes dopamine slower than normal. 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.”

He continued, “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.”

Royce was wrongly diagnosed a few times but has got to a point where he’s started recording music again, stating he’s “almost through it.”

He released his last album, The Allegory, in February 2020, with features from T.I., Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, Vince Staples, CyHi The Prynce, DJ Premier, and others.

Royce recently served as a co-associate producer for Big L’s posthumous album, Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King, released on October 31st via Nas’ Mass Appeal Records. His role involved giving creative direction to ensure L’s vocals were in tune with the production.