Over the last few years, Royce 5’9″ has been extremely candid about his struggles with alcohol, both in his music and in conversations. Recently, however, Royce opened up about the challenges that accompany sobriety, and how he overcame them.

Royce 5’9″ Discusses “The Most Significant Day Of His Life” & Debuts 2 New Songs (Video)

In speaking with DJ Vlad, Royce talked about having to recalibrate his entire life after he stopped drinking. “When I decided to stop, the shit storm that comes with cutting alcohol out of your life after it’s been a part of your life for 10 years straight, that’s what I had to deal with,” Royce said in discussing the first two years of his sobriety. In detailing the changes he had to make, Royce said “I had to deal with all of the relationships. I had to deal with looking at people with clear vision for the first time, looking at the people closest around me. I had to deal with falling out with people. I had someone that was very close to me sue me. Just all kinds of shit. Patching shit up with my wife. Re-developing my relationship with my kids. Realizing how much I did throughout the course of the day under the influence, because now I’m doing it not under the influence and the shit feels fucking weird. And, that’s what I dealt with for 2 years.”

When asked what the worst thing was that happened to him when he was drinking, Royce effortlessly rattles off a laundry list of misdeeds that befell him. “All of the bad things you can think about. I went to jail for a year. I crashed a car; almost killed myself. The list goes on and on. I associated myself with the worst possible people that you can imagine. I had the worst fuckin’ side bitches in the world. We can just go on and on. All of the bad things that you do as an alcoholic, I did. I did everything but lose my family.”

Watch “The Most Significant Day Of Royce 5’9″‘s Life” In His “Tabernacle” Video

Royce then discusses the spiritual awakening that led to his deciding to stop drinking, saying that he called all those he cared about in his life, and noting that when he told Eminem, Royce was in tears. In detailing Marshall Mathers’ reaction, Royce recalls Em saying “Yo, my G. That’s the realest shit you ever said to me. Ever. Yo, come home.” The MC born Ryan Montgomery also talks about how Marshall not only put him in a rehab facility and connected him with his therapist, but also served as a uniquely-situated confidant, given Em’s own struggles with substance abuse and eventual sobriety. “When I first got sober, I needed to talk to him a lot,” Royce says, adding “I needed somebody to talk to that understood this thing on my level; that could relate to every problem. Every thing that I had on my mind, that I had a story for, stuff that I usually would keep to myself out of embarrassment, I could say to him and then he would have a story to match that, but probably something even worse. It got to a point where he was even finishing my fucking sentences. He already knew what I was going to say. That’s how common it is and that’s how the community of sobriety is.”

Royce 5’9″ & Black Thought Deliver Rap On Steroids On Royce’s New Free EP (Audio)

In the last 2 years since he has emerged since his self-imposed exile, Royce has experienced an incredible renaissance. In 2014, he released the critically-acclaimed PRhyme album with DJ Premier and Adrian Younge, and just last month his Layers album, his first solo effort in 5 years, was met with some of the best reviews of his career, as well as the highest chart position of his solo career, coming in at #1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Album chart.