The Slaughterhouse machine is in full motion, and here goes the first video from their upcoming Welcome To Our House album. Hammer Dance is exactly the type of pulsating, driven hip-hop that fans expect from the foursome, and having given it some serious playtime upon the track’s emergence a little while back, the video release makes for a timely refresh of the track.
Opening with live footage that really sets the video off with some considerable energy, the video switches between a mixture of clips from live shows, backstage footage with several big name cameos (including some genuinely surprising ones), and some regular footage of each rapper performing their respective verse. It’s an uncomplicated, no frills video that pretty much nails the basic no-nonsense element of Slaughterhouse as a result, and is most definitely worth a watch for the hip-hop heads amongst you.
Welcome To Our House is coming on May 15th, and the Slaughterhouse juggernaut precede that with this entertaining slice of hip-hop. They’ve been relatively active recently with a couple of freestyles (here and here), and now we’re treated to some original material to really set things off.
A thumping, heavy-hitter of a production sets things off from the get-go, with a powerful percussion accompanied by a screechy melody that adds the aggressiveness and intensity associated with the quartet. The raps are as enjoyable as ever, with a strong set of verses anchored around a simple yet catchy hook that gives this track the all-round feel some of their material is often accused of lacking. Definitely worth a grab, and I’m looking forward to more new works from the foursome.
After coming together for an effort from Crooked I’s upcoming mixtape, the Slaughterhouse machine come together once again for a somewhat late remix of Lil’ Wayne and Drake once-ubiquitous She Will.
Late or not however, the moody, intense production is an excellent fit for every member of the collective (it’s a shame Royce isn’t on this), and as per they deliver their side of the bargain with a great output throughout; Budden and Ortiz even take on the hook with ease! Crooked I probably grabs the win with a variety of good flows on his verse, but credit goes to all three as they’ve injected that Slaughterhouse power into the track without losing the essence of the original.
Slaughterhouse return with some raps over a throwaway track from The Game. Would have preferred for them to hit us with some fresh production, but given their relative inactivity I won’t complain!
Something I think the group should be attempting to do more of is introspective type tracks, it’s something that individually they’re all so brilliant at, and it comes as a bit of a surprise that they haven’t done more of it as a group. This song is one that is more of that fashion, though they don’t really pull it off as well as I’d expect.
Reuniting 5/6 of the rappers who obliterated the recent BET Cyphers, Yela grabs his Slaughterhouse labelmates and grabs a pretty solid substitute for Eminem in T.I. for a remix of his single from the Radioactive album.
The hard-hitting beat keeps things simple yet engaging, with a crashing percussion and hypnotising vocal sample set to a tempo perfect for the high-octane, densely-packed verses each of these rappers can provide. None of them disappoint either: T.I. opens with a laidback verse that switches speeds throughout and bounces off the percussion nicely, Yela follows up with a hushed verse that throws a few different flows into the mix effectively, whilst the Slaughterhouse quartet close the track out with four absolutely blistering, dizzying verses. An excellent effort that hip-hop heads will be replaying for quite some time.
This song is a statement that the Slaughterhouse machine is about to go into overdrive as they near completion of their first album under the Shady Records/Aftermath umbrella. The very apt Biggie sample for the hook elevates the chilled nature of the beat, a beat some (who are more used to Slaughterhouse’s energetic tracks) may find a tad flat, but all four members come through with an onslaught of lyrical ability. Don’t ask me which one of these lyrical monsters came with the best verse…because I honestly couldn’t tell you. Download below.
The Shady collective come together for what is the standout session from the BET Cyphers, with each rapper delivering a set of raps that would have probably dominated in any of the other cyphers. Yelawolf opens proceedings with his blinding, breakneck delivery, whilst Joe Budden follows up with a slower, more lyrical affair that will understandably claim top spot for many, with a slew of clever, attention grabbing punchlines. Crooked I follows up with an excellent performance that will also have many fans, throwing some smart lines into a tongue-twisting flow, whilst Joell comes through with a verse that sits somewhere between Budden and Yela’s, though is certainly the weakest of the bunch. Royce brings the biggest quotable with his hilarious ‘Hi Rihanna’ line, and group captain Eminem finishes things off with a solid verse, though not quite as slick as some of his signees.
Although The Slaughter are now officially on Shady, it doesn’t mean they have forgotten where they came from. Here Royce and Joell team up with Toronto emcee Omar LinX for the first single from his upcoming City Of Ommz. On call producer here is the Premo apprentice MoSS who comes through with haunting keys to accompany the thumping drums and on point lyrics. Good hip-hop.
A mouthwatering underground lineup on this one from Term’s upcoming Cameo King II dropping May 24th.
An upbeat, bouncy instrumental sees each emcee here attempt to out-do each other. The winner? It has to be Term himself who comes through with that treble-time multi-syllabic flow that G Rap in his prime would be proud.
It’s often discussed who’d make a great 5th addition to the lyrical machine that is Slaughterhouse, and it’d be hard to argue against the case for Ludacris to be this fabled 5th member (not that there’s any chance Slaughterhouse are looking to recruit!). So seeing this collaboration immediately piqued my interest, what with Luda’s penchant for mind-altering guest verses, and Slaughterhouse….well, being Slaughterhouse.
So the result we find here is 5 great verses filled with many a clever punchline, over a pretty decent beat. What I didn’t expect was the awful chorus, which quite simply makes my head hurt. Shame about this annoyance, because this would make a brilliant song with a better thought out hook. Definitely worth picking up by you hip hop lovers out there regardless of this though, as you won’t really find a better bunch of lyricists who are still relevant in the game today.
Oh man, what I would have given to have been in Detroit to see this live performance from the next generation of Shady Records.
Not the best quality of sound, given it was filmed by a spectator in the crowd, but it’s good enough. Hell, even if the sound was worse than terrible I’d still have posted this. Great seeing the dynamic of these collection of rappers on stage together, you can tell their rapport is genuine.
Go grab the audio for this by clicking right here. If you haven’t done so already, get yourselves on the Slaughterhouse & Yelawolf bandwagon now…by the end of the year there will be no room.
This is actually the second trailer for Slaughterhouse’s upcoming music video, Everybody Down, but I didn’t bother posting the first as it was a little short/didn’t reveal much.
However, this trailer gives us a glimpse of the roles each of these rappers play in some sort of bank heist or other high risk endeavour. The effects used on this has the super-lyrical group situated in a CGI constructed world and surprisingly comes off well. Looking forward to the release of the full video.
The track Everybody Down features on the Slaughterhouse EP that was released last month and is available to purchase on iTunes.
Over the last few months, this guy has been on a fantastic streak of consistency. His talent and passion are evident in everything he’s put out, and I can safely say he’s a rapper I definitely view as one of the brightest talents in the hip-hop game. Comparisons to J. Cole have been fair, and I hope he can mirror Cole’s 2010 successes for himself in 2011.
Here we’ve got his latest mixtape offering, Eyes of Veritas, from which Indi recently posted the very enjoyable Born In ’87. I’ve caught one or two other tracks from this too, and the quality of the content is extremely good, which I fully expect will extend throughout the entire mixtape. There are a couple of interesting features too, and some pretty big name producers involved: click below for the download, and further below for the tracklist. I suspect this could be the mixtape to really launch Gilbere to that next level as an artist, so do yourself a favour and grab that (free) download below.
Gilbere Forte-Eyes of Veritas → Continue Reading Gilbere Forte-Eyes of Veritas Mixtape
Really not sure how I completely missed this, I guess I got too lost in the Lupe Fiasco excitement, but this dropped earlier: a new track from the (recently Shady-signed) Slaughterhouse boys.
Produced by Mr. Porter, we’re given a very good hip hop sounding lyrical affair (come on, did you expect any less?). Will be on their upcoming EP, of which the tracklisting for can be checked out over here.
As promised, Game and DJ Skee let loose of the tracks that didn’t make the initial cut for the recent Purp & Patron mixtape.
As with P&P, there are some very interesting features here, with Joell Ortiz and Ghostface (on the same track, no less) making for particularly eye-catching inclusions. Preview/download in the widget, tracklist below.
01. The Hangover
02. California
03. Yung Stunna (Feat. Birdman)
04. Violin
05. Sex
06. White Soft Porn (Feat. Mars)
07. Get Familiar (Feat. Timbaland)
08. Lost
09. I’m Home (Feat. Kurupt)
10. This Way (Feat. JoiStaRR)
11. 3D (Feat. David Banner)
12. Drama (Feat. Ghostface & Joell Ortiz)
13. Lovebirds
14. Philly (Mega Mix) (Young Chris Feat. Game, Eve, Black Thought, Money Malc, Fat Joe, Fred the Godson, Diggy Simmons & Jermaine Dupri)
15. Undefeated (Feat. Busta Rhymes & Marsha Ambrosius)
Too many remixes for my liking, I won’t complain though as it’s ALWAYS great to hear new material from these guys, in whatever form. Having said that, the Move On remix could end up very interesting listening (assuming it’ll contain all new verses from the group), as the original was top-notch.
Fresh off their recent signing to Shady Records, 2011 is going to be a very busy year for this group.
Now it was no secret Slaughterhouse were going to sign with Shady Records, it’s only been due to record label issues that it hadn’t already happened, but Yelawolf? Crazy stuff! And by crazy I mean genius. Yelawolf was already signed to Interscope, so it was a good move to put him onto Shady.
Here’s what Em had to say: “Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, it’s kinda phase two of Shady. It’s the new generation of Shady Records and as we’re trying to rebuild our label, it’s exciting for hip-hop and with all of these forces coming together and with what everybody’s capable of on the mic, it’s gonna be fun.”
Yelawolf also comments on the powerhouse move: “Considering where I’m from and the shit I’ve been through, it’s hard to put into words what partnering with Shady means to me, my team at Ghet-O-Vision, and my state of Alabama. I can tell you that when you’re willing to give your life up to see a dream through, the reward is great. And now that I’ve become an apprentice to one of the greatest artists in the world, my potential reaches beyond anything I ever imagined. Let’s kill this shit.”
The other three quarters of the Slaughter join Joell’s collaboration with The Lox, Put Some Money On It, which is from Joell’s recent Free Agent album.
With that classic early to mid 90′s sound with the production, this song is all about a hella amount of top-level lyricists doing what they do best. A great beat can make any artist sound good, but only the truly special emcees can take average beats, or looping posse cut type beats such as this one and make it into an enjoyable track. I’m unsure as to has the best verse on this, I’m going to need to listen to it a lot more before I come to any real conclusions, but on first impressions Royce takes it for me. Great to see Slaughterhouse on their grind again, what with their other recent track announcing their return.
This has club banger wrote all over it. Noreaga teams up with French Montana and Joell Ortiz to give us Sun Tzu, named after the famous Chinese military general (that’s as much of a history lesson as you’re likely to get from me!).
As for the track itself, lyrically it doesn’t really offer up anything special, but with a beat like this you don’t need it to. It’s all about the thumping bass and the catchy hook (I’m going to be sat here all night aawwwoooooo’ing now). When Joell jumps on, the track improves tenfold, though I’m not really a massive Noreaga fan so I may be being a little biased here. Definitely one to be played at full volume.
Noreaga ft. French Montana & Joell Ortiz–Sun Tzu (Clean)
Apologies for the delay on this, but only this evening have I managed to get myself back up to date with music and/or life!
I couldn’t be more sorry either: this track is painfully good. Slaughterhouse recently announced an 8-track EP to be released Feb 8th, and this seems to be the first track from said EP, and most certainly commands attention. Pounding bass and drum work keeps your head nodding, whilst an electric guitar provides the edgy feel that only the Slaughterhouse trio can provide. The combination is an intense, memorable production that amplifies each rapper’s natural energy superbly, and we’re treated to some typically-strong verses from the fearsome collective. SLAUGGHHHTERRHOOOUSE!!
Slaughterhouse-Back on the Scene ft. Dres
As the end of year lists begin to pop up everywhere, it’s only right that we enter the fray. Murray, Indi, Liam and myself have put our heads together to compile a list of the very best acts in hip-hop this year, and come up with shortlist of who we feel stood up and really did something worthwhile this year. With the differing tastes and perspectives of four writers, you’ll definitely find some good talking points amongst the commentary we’ve offered on our selections, for better or worse (hopefully better!).
Click below to see who ranked at #15 all the way up to #4. The top 3 will be released shortly afterwards. Without further ado, let the mayhem begin!
From Jamieson’s forthcoming EP, I Came, I Saw Vol.II., UK emcee Jamieson collaborates with Brooklyn’s beast of a rapper – Joell Ortiz.
As you’ll hear from the stream below, this beat is really, really good. Very much something you’d expect Joell Ortiz to rap on, so it’s no surprise to hear him excel on this. Jamieson holds his own too, which adds to the burgeoning buzz he has been gaining over the last year or so.
We had Busta snapping on this beat recently, and now it’s Joell’s turn. As you’d expect, the high-tempo beat is perfect for Ortiz’s delivery, as he comes through with a quickfire flow that really does leave you wanting more: it clocks in at a mere 1:25 long, and it’s a shame he didn’t spit for a little longer.
Either way, it’s a great freestyle from Joell. He’s had a very good 2010, with his standing and respect amongst the hip-hop community skyrocketing, and this is a nice way to cap it off.
#MonsterMondays have been really strong in recent weeks, and this week we get a Maino single with assistance from some of New York’s more prominent rappers.
The production is built around a California Love sample, with touches of claps, horns and a thudding percussion coming together in an upbeat and positive manner. Arguably, the sample could have been used a little better, but it does make for easy listening and each rapper approaches the track with good flows, with Joell unsurprisingly coming through with the most memorable verse.
Visuals for one of my favourite tracks of 2010. Battle Cry is, simply put, a street anthem – and the video reflects this with Mr. Ortiz rhyming in his neck of the woods.
This featured on his EP, Farewell Summer, that dropped back in September and given how big this track is, Joell decided to put it on his new album too, Free Agent. An album which was somehow sent for immediate sale to Amazon last week by the amateurs that are Ortiz’s label, E1….around 2-3 months before it was actually scheduled for release. Epic fail.
This is the debut solo album release from 24-year old Baltimore born emcee John Regan. It features the likes of Marsha Ambrosius, Joell Ortiz, Skyzoo, Sha Stimuli (you can grab that collab here), Needlz, Nottz, 88-Keys, PackFM, Ill Bill, Juganot, Kidz in the Hall, Jaiden and more. Certainly an eye-catching lineup for an underground artist such as Regan, and gives you an idea that the album is going to be something worth taking note of.
I’ve only managed to give it a quick listen, but it certainly does impress and comes across as an album that you’d expect from a far more established artist, which is a credit to the talent Regan clearly has. The album describes his struggles at trying to make it in the hip-hop game, whilst having to balance a family life at the same time. It’s available for purchase on iTunes/Amazon now, but before you take the plunge, you can listen to the full album for free here (My favourite track has to be the superb All I Got To Give).
<— Kool G Rap holding a bullet in his teeth. Why not?
I’m going away this weekend to the city they named the big apple after (after Amsterdam sold it to the UK). So, with beer in hand, I’ll leave you with a few drops from over the past few days for you to enjoy in my absence. I’ve obviously got a joint with G Rap on, I’ve got some new Reks from his upcoming mixtape, some new Joell Ortiz (standard) and a revamped version of an AZ classic.
Hit the jump for the links and a bit of pre-match analysis.
Joell goes for the everyman approach with this video, which really works with the lyrics and mood of the track.
It’s a simple yet very watchable video that manages to enhance the storytelling aspect of the original track through a very simple everyday routine. The monochrome in the video also adds a nice vintage touch, rounding off the audio-visual package nicely.
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