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.
Not a big fan of the artwork here, but as they say: “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. And hell, if we did that nobody would listen to anything from the 90′s… What is important is that we’ve got a real nice (and I’m going to steal this word from Ajay) slice of hip-hop with half of the Slaughter teaming up with SP Double, who I’ll admit, I know very little about. But this is good and definitely worth a listen, if only for Royce/Crook.
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.
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.
And the second Shady/Royce collaboration to get visual treatment is also released today, this time for the much more mellow Lighters track that featured on their Bad Meets Evil EP.
Not really a fan of this track, mostly because Bruno Mars’ chorus here annoys me too much. However both verses on this are great, if you can look past the chorus (and poptakular beat).
It is a track that was hugely successful commercially, so maybe I’m in the minority when I say I’m not big on this song!
Long-term Royce fans may feel the content of his songs no longer hold the same introspective vigour it once did, but this track is one that proves he’s still among the best of them when it comes to lyrical dexterity. I like how this track flips to the DJ Premier remix too in this video, showcases that the lyrics aren’t reliant on the extremely heavy and boisterous production of the original.
Writer’s Block is filled with punchline after punchline with a perfected flow, with the visuals just as crazy as the verses. Unfortunately we don’t get to see Eminem in this video performing his chorus, but I guess that would have held too many parallels to Rock City…don’t worry though we have some Eminem and Royce visuals coming up in a bit.
Free download of this track and further analysis (courtesy of Murray) of this song can be found over here.
From something a little disappointing to something somewhat serendipitous. By this I mean I must admit I wasn’t really too sure which Royce we would get on his upcoming LP Success Is Certain. Earmarked as a loose follow up to the superb Death Is Certain I’m pleased to announce this track sounds as if it could have in fact been lifted from Royce’s darkest yet finest hour.
Nottz builds an introspective and powerful instrumental for Adonis and Royce to lay their respective verses and perhaps more importantly for Royce to remind his fans (and introduce to some of his newer ones) that there’s a bit more about him than his Bad Meets Evil treble-time flows. August 9th is the date and the lack of promotion on this speaks volumes about dropping on an independent label in stark comparison to the megabucks Interscope ploughed into Hell: The Sequel.
Ghost and Nickel do loads of these types of features. They’re the type that end up in my library as I obtain them for pure interest in their verses but with little regard for the project they appear on. Hence I’ve literally hundreds of these types of tracks littered across my iTunes and after a couple of plays they will be lost into oblivion only to resurface several years later on a random shuffle setting.
I listened to Royce’s entire back catalogue a couple of days back and have since come to the conclusion that although his flow is perhaps more refined than ever now, his subject matter was stronger back in the day (Death Is Certain > ) although a certain element of judgement should be retained for his upcoming Success Is Certain.
Royce drops his latest offering on August 9th as a somewhat loose follow-up to his 2004 classic Death Is Certain.
An exciting tracklisting has surfaced courtesy of Amazon which sees features including Method Man, Raekwon, Yelawolf, Eminem, Joe Budden, Kid Vishis and 50 Cent.
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.
Much anticipated visuals from the highly anticipated Hell: The Sequel EP from Eminem and Royce Da 5’9″. The track itself ws accurately summated by Murray, with ‘razor-sharp, tongue-twisting, triple-time lyricism from two emcee’s back on top’, over a solid and unobtrusive production.
Unfortunately, the video just doesn’t match up. Whilst the animated/visual lyrics style of videos works for some artists, it just feels completely incongruent with both the song itself and the somewhat ‘serious’ (for the most part) nature of each artist. The effects are massively overused and consequentially reduce the song to a secondary factor behind an ill-thought out cartoon, adding a playful quality that doesn’t juxtapose favourably with the lyrical content. In small doses, it may have worked fine as a supplementary effect on the gritty, industrial scenery they’re surrounded by, but unfortunately its extended use only serves to dilute that more fitting scenescape.
Disappointing video, but the audio has enough quality to survive. Grab that here if you haven’t already.
From Royce’s upcoming Success Is Certain LP out July 26th. The D spitter teams up with long-time collaborator DJ Premier for this heater. Royce does his thing with this, jam-packing it full of quotables (which no doubt will be scratched into numerous choruses for years to come) although I was a little disappointed with how Premo came through on this one. I guess I just hold the man with such high standards. Oh, a few seconds of Premo tags at the start. Sorry.
I’d forgotten about this track. Released almost exactly 2 years ago, this was actually the track that probably got people familiar with Sir Aah, and to me still stands up as his best material.
All three artists come on a real conscious tip, with Sir Aah commenting on the political and social problems rife throughout many Asian states with honesty, and hence arguably delivering his career-best verse. Crook spreads his targets wider, as he trots across the globe with his verse, acknowledging a wide range of issues in a typically enjoyable verse, whilst Royce focuses on the American situation in a solid verse of his own. Enjoyable track, and worth a couple of listens.
It’s unusual when you can’t pinpoint an exact formula, yet anything these two do at the moment seems like they are pushing the envelope. The latest drop from Hell: The Sequel has Mr Porter behind the boards crafting a pulsating backdrop for Em and Royce to go back and forth, and whilst it takes a while for each emcee to get into things on this one, when they really decide to turn it on their long-rooted chemistry is evident as they weave in and out, almost toying with the bars Mr Porter delivers to them.
Probably not as enjoyable as the previous leak, but June 14th is the day hip-hop stands still in awe.
There we have it. June 14th Em and Royce hook up for the seriously long-anticipated Bad Meets Evil EP Hell: The Sequel.
The cover itself is actually pretty awesome and cleverly thought-out, for I had feared it would be some bundled together effort as Eminem races around trying to dominate 2011. The concept of them both sat on speakers with scattered records around mimics that of a graveyard tying in with the title and hopefully the dark, hardcore content which we will see on the EP itself.
Get the first single Fast Lane from Hell: The Sequel here.
I happen to be a big fan of Australian hip-hop and often wish I had more in my collection. They always seem to do their intro/retrospective conscious tip very well and here Jay Daniels lives up to my stereotype.
A very listenable guitar-infused effort sees Jay spit two enjoyable verses before Royce takes to the mic to ride the track out with the skill and diligence we know he’s so capable of. Off JD’s upcoming The Drop-In.
“All of a sudden me and Royce in similar places, crazy, the future ain’t bright for me, for him it’s now Shady.”
Couple days ago we heard that first drop from Royce and Eminem’s upcoming Bad Meets Evil EP. Having liked what we heard, here’s a little more to keep that appetite nice and moist.
MTV caught up with the numerous producers involved in the project (Havoc, Mr Porter, DJ Khalil and Bangladesh) with each giving you their own little insight into what to expect.
All I’m going to say is:
Havoc: “It sounds like you going down a dark hall with a whole bunch of monks just screaming at you.”
It’s been in excess of a month since I last put fingers to keys (on here at least, I’ve still managed to churn out hip-hop randomness on my Twitter) so forgive me for any evident rustiness. Regardless, a joint like this speaks for itself and thus renders my job here today somewhat easier.
So Eminem and Royce recently announced that the long-awaited and anticipated Bad Meets Evil EP was finally on the horizon for June sometime. Fast Lane forms the first drop from the EP and serves up a healthy dose of what we all expected: razor-sharp, tongue-twisting, triple-time lyricism from two emcee’s back on top, trading bars back and forth like it’s 1999 all over. Now y’all can’t hate on that.
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.
Royce has surprisingly let loose the first drop from his new LP, Success Is Certain. What will instantly draw people to this is that Em features on it, however this track is not brilliant because of him, it’s brilliant because Royce absolutely destroys a pulsating beat.
Following on from recent collabos with Em like Livin’ Proof and Echo, Royce doesn’t let up with his lyrical ability and mesmerising flow, hitting the beat with constant punchlines and metaphors, I’m finding it hard to digest this track myself. One that’ll instantly find itself on my next CD for the car.
Btw, Eminem’s just on the hook, it does not surprise me one bit that he didn’t fancy doing a verse as Royce is in top, top form. Download —–> Royce Da 5’9″ – Writer’s Block ft. Eminem
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.
Sadly, Soundcloud decided to play up yesterday, so forgive me for the delay on this collaboration. After a short intro, the track blasts into life with an aggressive, in-your-face Jean Grae verse. Can’t argue with some of her clever raps, and it sets the tone superbly. Monch comes through next with a range of flows that display his versatility, switching things up throughout to keep you intrigued. Royce closes off with another good verse, and though he has one or two of the nicest lines, he probably has to take the loss on this one. The beat is frantic, explosive and certainly adds to the intensity of the verses, making for a very solid all-rounder. W.A.R. coming March 22nd.
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.
Saw this kicking around yesterday, wrestled with myself whether to post or not, posted it today. Glad I did.
This track showcases the strength of the UK Grime scene right now with Royce teaming up with some underground UK emcees over a heavy instrumental emblematic of our Grime scene.
Some tidy in-studio visuals too which I feel always emphasise the thought process and delivery of the subject matter in question.
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.”
Recent Comments