Royce Da 5’9″ reveals he’s been dealing with lingual dystonia

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Royce Da 5’9″ revealed that for the past several years he’s been dealing with lingual dystonia, a neurological condition where, he says, “there’s some kind of interruption in the nerve firing off in my tongue,” causing spasms that hindered him from talking and recording music.

“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. 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. 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 says he went through several improper diagnoses, but he’s “almost through it,” and has started recording again. “I wish I was recording when we were doing this Big L’s album,” he says.

You can read the full article on Rolling Stone.