Early the next decade, Royce scored the first in a string of charting solo singles with "Boom," a collaboration with DJ Premier that began a long-term affiliation. The following year, the rapper was featured on Willa Ford's "I Wanna Be Bad," a number 22 pop hit. Rock City, his full-length debut, was released in 2002, but bootlegging of its contents prompted the rapper to decamp to Koch, where he issued Rock City (Version 2.0) and followed up in 2004 with Death Is Certain. Shortly after the 2005 set Independent's Day was self-released through Trouble, the same outlet for some of his many supplemental mixtapes, Royce co-wrote "Tell Me" for Diddy's Press Play. Among the tracks on which he appeared during the next couple years was on Joe Budden's "Slaughterhouse," which led to group recordings of the same name. Royce, Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I released a self-titled album that debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200. Within a matter of weeks, through another independent label deal, Royce's fourth solo album, Street Hop, was on shelves.

Royce enjoyed even greater commercial success during the 2010s, a period during which his high critical stature as a sharp lyricist likewise escalated. In 2011, he and Eminem reconvened for Hell: The Sequel. The EP topped the Billboard 200 and was trailed shortly thereafter by the release of solo album five, Success Is Certain, a Top 30 hit itself. The year 2012 was especially significant for Royce, not only for the warm reception to Slaughterhouse's Welcome To: Our House, but also for his sobriety date that September. Alcoholism had plagued his life for several years, notably related on "Shake This," and had led to a handful of drunken driving offenses, a prison sentence, and the deterioration of his family life. Royce went through a protracted period of writer's block, but his career resumed in full force in 2014, when he appeared on benefactor Eminem's posse cut "Detroit vs. Everybody" and released his first album with DJ Premier as PRhyme. Another solo album, Layers, was out by the end of 2016. PRhyme 2, along with seventh solo full-length Book of Ryan, materialized in 2018. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi