Slaughterhouse - Slaughterhouse (August 11, 2009)

Slaughterhouse - Slaughterhouse

I know, I know, I'm late. STFY.

Slaughterhouse is a hip-hop supergroup, composed of four artists who've been fucked over by their record labels. Joe Budden (who also dropped an EP today, titled Escape Route) was dropped from Def Jam after his sophmore album was delayed continously. Crooked I was dropped by Death Row thanks to two recorded, yet unreleased albums, blocked by CEO Suge Knight. Joell Ortiz was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath label and parted ways after having his album continuously delayed (he released one called The Brick: Bodega Chronicles on Koch Records, though). Royce da 5'9" came up with Eminem, but when Em blew the fuck up, Royce was promptly left behind. His debut album was heavily bootlegged and barely sold anything. He wrote for Dr. Dre, but was fired after Royce's manager revealed Royce wrote for the good Doctor. He then had a falling out with Eminem and got in a beef with D12. He also turned to alcoholism. All of those turned into his second album, Death is Certain, which is an amazing album.

Now, the four have decided to come together to create a supergroup that could possibly rival Wu-Tang (however, if Wu drop U-God...).

Joe called upon Royce, Joell, Crook, and another MC called Nino Bless for a posse cut called "Slaughterhouse." After sensing that they all had something (except for Nino Bless, who was promptly forgotten about in the scheme of Slaughterhouse), the four decided to come together as one.

August 11th, the Voltron of hip-hop dropped their self-titled debut album... and here it is.

1. Sound Off
Produced by StreetRunner
Royce's first verse is awesome. Describing each Slaughterhouse member as a part of the body. I do find it weird that Royce would basically say he runs Slaughterhouse, but none of the others seem to have a problem. All members (except Joey) begin their verse with a regular flow, before delving in a Twista-esque speed flow. Joey, though, begins it with the regular flow, and then alternates between a speed flow and a regular flow, and it sounds really awkward. However, every MC sound awesome. This is a great opening track, plus StreetRunner's beat is good.

2. Lyrical Murders (feat. K-Young)
Produced by Focus
Why did Slaughterhouse feel the need for an R&B-ish hook?

3. Microphone
Produced by The Alchemist
And this is why The Alchemist is one of my favorite producers. I've already heard this beat, back when Eminem freestyled over this (along with the beats of OutKast's "Chonkyfire" and Busta Rhymes "Respect My Conglomerate"). All four of Slaugterhouse sound awesome, making this my favorite song.

4. Not Tonight
Produced by StreetRunner
When I picked up the CD at Best Buy, I remember seeing "Featuring the Hits: The One (ft. The New Royales) & Not Tonight!" or something like that. I thought it was kinda weird, because I hadn't heard "Not Tonight" up to that point. While I personally would've replaced it with "Microphone" on that, this song is pretty damn good. StreetRunner comes back with another good contribution for a song that sounds borderline radio ready. Of course, this song leads into the first single...

5. The One (feat. The New Royales)
Produced by DJ Khalil
I have played this song so many damn times since it leaked. However, it took me a while to realize that The New Royales are Slaughterhouse's featured guests this affair. I'll be honest and say I haven't heard of them, except for one song which I got pretty much because I was looking for some Jay Electronica. But that's off-topic. This isn't about The New Royales or Jay Electronica, it's about Slaughterhouse's DJ Khalil-produced single. The group seems to open up the "Rock" section in the iTunes store and find ways to cram random rock references into their songs, but, somehow, it works. Despite the fact plenty of the bands they mention suck (Nickelback, Royce? NICKELBACK?!). I like Royce's verse, despite the fact it's short. The chorus sucks, though. If that's the lead singer of The New Royales (I forgot to mention that I haven't even listened to the one song I have), then you can count me out as a fan.

6. In the Mind of Madness (Skit)
I personally like to think of the "(Skit)" as "(Skip)", with Slaughterhouse advising the listener that this track is completely skippable. Thanks, Slaughterhouse!

7. Cuckoo
Produced by DJ Khalil
DJ Khalil's beat is crazy. This song was the second track from the album to leak (the first was "The One"). I have to admit, when I first listened to the track, I really, absolutely hated this beat. Which is weird, because I kinda like the beat for "The One", which was also produced by DJ Khalil. While, it's not the best on the album, and there are definitely way too many things going at once, I'll go out on a limb and say this song's grown on me. Of course, it helps when the lyrics are fire.

8. The Phone Call (Skit)
Skip.

9. Onslaught 2 (feat. Fatman Scoop)
Produced by Emile
Fatman Scoop where the fuck has he been (idea for Where Are They Now?: Fatman Scoop). Too bad he's completely unneccessary in the track (like pretty much every damn hype man except Flava Flav (looking at you Lil' Jon)). This would be the sequel to Slaughterhouse's first song together (besides the track from Joey's album, also featuring Nino Bless). And as such, I suggest you search the interwebz for the original, since it kills this version. The beat's better. The rhymes are better. The lack of Fatman Scoop is better. Yeah, you get my point. (By the way, did I use enough parentheses for this song? (No.))

10. The Phone Call 2 (Skit)
See track 8.

11. Salute (feat. Pharoahe Monch)
Produced by Mr. Porter
Pharoahe Monch drops by to drop a chorus... umm... okay. I'll never understand why MCs other waste good MCs on the chorus (Royce in particular, what the fuck was up with Em only doing the chorus on that one track from Rock City 2.0?). However, Pharoahe's chorus is pretty good, which is a fresh change of pace, since typically hip-hop chorus suck a left nut. I don't exactly know all the details of the Royce/D12 feud, but I know it's apparently over, since Mr. Porter would be Kuniva from D12. The beat's different from most of the others on here, which allows the four to spit fire with a slow flow. However, I'm still left wishing Monch got a verse.

12. Pray (It's a Shame)
Produced by ReaLsoN
This makes four producers I've never heard of. I also don't stand the unneeded capitalization in his name... but whatever. Joey sticks to the hook and Joell's verse is surpisingly uninteresting, as he spits (moar like slobbers) with a boring flow. Royce sounds good, but the surprise comes from Crooked I, who sounds the best on here. However, this song kinda bores me (or it could be fact that I'm really fucking tired and want to get to sleep... who knows).

13. Cut You Loose
Produced by Mr. Porter
Kuniva drops back with another contribution that serves as a song for the group to discuss their problems with hip-hop. Don't take this short track review for granted, this is a damn good song. I'm just tired and want to finish this review.

14. Rain Drops (feat. Novel)
Produced by Filthy Rockwell
I only know Novel through the fact he released a mixtape based around Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreaks, which I didn't download, but I digress. The beat's not very good. Slaughterhouse sound good... blah... blah... blah... I'ma head to bed. Night, guys. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

15. Killaz (feat. Melanie Rutherford & C. Brown)
Produced by Emile
Oh, wow. The concentrated amount of shit in this one song wake me up. Fuck. This is a turrible song. Just turrible.

Conclusion: Slaughterhouse is a pretty damn good debut. While it wasn't as good as I hoped it was, it did live up to my expectations. I'm gonna guess we'll get a second album (guessing the title here... Slaughterhouse 2, catchy, amirite?) around early of next year, hopefully with some contributions by a DJ by the name of Premier. Just sayin'.

Coming Soon
Fuck, if I know. All I know is it's hip-hop (watch me switch up and review some Radiohead).

Track Reviews #2: Crooked I, Eminem, Nas, Raekwon, & More...

For our second edition of track reviews, we have new tracks from an apparent DEA informant, an Albino, a hustla, a crook, a white guy, a Chicago native not named Kanye or Lupe, a legend, a chef, and a supergroup.

Let's go in.

Alfamega - Round One
Leading us off is the supposed T.I. diss by Alfamega, which Alfamega has said isn't true. And it doesn't really sound like a T.I. diss, so I'm gonna have to agree. It was supposed to be off a mixtape called 10 Round K.O., in which he would do 10 songs, each featuring a different flow. However, Alfa says he's not gonna release it because it would be misintrepeted as a T.I. diss. Diss or not, this is actually a pretty good track.

Brother Ali - Us
Here comes my first taste of Brother Ali, "Us" off the album with the same name which drops September 22nd. Brother Ali's flow is half-singing, half-rapping, all good. The track is relatively quick, as Ali drops 1 verse and moves on. However, I'm tempted to check out The Undisputed Truth now.

Cassidy - Ok, You're Right Freestyle
Oh, hey, Cassidy's still around. He hops on 50 Cent's "Ok, You're Right", produced by Dr. Dre to meh results.

Crooked I - 8-11 Part 3 (The H's on the Side)
Here's Crooked's third "8-11." This time, he hops on the beat for "Best I Ever Had" to good results. While I don't like it better than the second "8-11", this is a good track. I wonder when Crooked's gonna release the Mr. Pig Face Weapon Waist EP. And it makes remind myself to go back and listen to go and download one of his mixtapes. Oh, Crooked's new "Slaugterhouse" tattoo... lol.

Eminem - The Warning
You've probably heard this song by now, but I'm gonna talk about it anyway. This is Eminem's diss track to Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, a response to the former's "Obsessed," which featured a remix alongside Ja Rule (who is still alive) and Gucci Mane (who still sucks). What does this track do ultimately? Well, it pretty much ends this lame feud... that is unless Mariah or Nick respond, in which case Eminem will presumably release nude pics of Mariah. Oh, Em talking about cumming over Mariah's stomach. Funny. Em talking about killing Mariah. Unneccessary.

GLC - A Gangstaz Nature (feat. Cold Hard)
My first listen of GLC without Kanye. Who the hell Cold Hard is... I don't know. But his voice is goddamn annoying. GLC sounds decent, but ultimately, I think I'm gonna delete this track.

Nas - Legendary
Picked this up thanks to Hip Hop Connection's digital magazine. They gave a free .mp3 of it with this description:

An exclusive from the top notch Tyson DVD, here the boy Esco gets into fight mode. Seconds out!

It begins with 40 seconds of orchestra shit and then the beat kicks in and Nas goes in. Great track... but I think I have this track already.
EDIT: I have it on the mixtape Nas dropped before Untitled. Still a good track.

Raekwon - House of Flying Daggers (feat. Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, & Method Man)
So, first ?uestlove posted a radio rip on Twitter. Then the next morning, the clean CDQ version was on illRoots. Then later in the day, I found the dirty CDQ version on NahRight. Inspectah Deck leads us off with a good verse, but he's obviously not the main feature. As everyone's looking forward to the Ghost/Meth/Rae collab (let's hope that album actually pops up). Rae's verse sounds great, so does Ghost's. Meth is also good... overall, great song. Oh, and it's over J Dilla production. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 drops September 8th. Can't wait.

Raekwon - Wu Ooh (feat. Ghostface Killah & Method Man)
I know I'm late on this, seeing as it dropped sometime around May, but I just got it last night... thanks to Hip Hop Connection digital issue #2. The beat's good, though I find myself sometimes concentrating on the "Wuuuu... ooooooh" every now and then. That may just be me. Rae, Ghost, and Meth's verses all sound great. That album they're thinkin about could fucking awesome, provided they get some get good beats (I heard they were thinking of making it pretty much all RZA production). Great song. Can't wait for OB4CL2.

Slaughterhouse - Microphone
Okay, so I lied. I had finished writing this and looking at the Slaughterhouse album on Wikipedia and saw that there was a track produced by The Alchemist and I Google'd it and found it uploaded on OnSmash. So I downloaded it. Onto the song... the beat's good, featuring what I think is a Rakim sample (all I hear is a vague "microphone" in the beat). Royce, Crook, Joell, and Joe all come with hot verses making this my second favorite song so far (can't beat "The One"... or "Woodstock (Hood Hop)" for that matter, but apparently, that isn't on the album). I'm definitely copping Slaughterhouse on August 11th. And you should, too.

Track Reviews #1: Crooked I, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Royce da 5'9", & 2Pac

Introducing the first of several "gimmick" posts, I'll have, I'm introducing Track Reviews. Yes, I know. Very creative name, right? Basically, what I'll be doing here is reviewing random tracks that came out in the past week/24 hours. This one is based around the tracks that came out today, since a lot of shit dropped. We have two Crooked I tracks, the first Jay-Z single, a Kid Cudi joint, a Royce joint, and fifteen unreleased Pac tracks (I only have two).

Let's go in...

Crooked I - 8-11
Crooked jumps on 50 Cent's "Ok, You're Right" (produced by Dr. Dre). At the beginning, Crooked talks about installing a studio on the tour bus to release a track every week (Hip Hop Weekly: Part 2?). As Slaughterhouse fans know, the title is obviously a reference to the Slaughterhouse debut (an album I'm gonna cop and one you need to). In the middle of the song, the beat stops and all you hear is a siren, while Crooked references the short-lived Slaughterhouse/Inspectah Deck feud that went on for a minute. The beat starts back up and Crook goes back in. A really good track, got me looking forward to Slaughterhouse's debut and to the possible Hip Hop Weekly 2.

Crooked I - 8-11 (Pt. 2)
So, I had just finished up the first edition of Track Reviews when I decided to hop on NahRight to make sure I got everything. Turns out, I didn't. 14 more unreleased Pac joints are out there, plus Crooked I released a second 8-11, this time over a local producer called Qwest. One thing I noticed immediately was "The House of the Rising Sun" sample which is pretty prevelent through the whole song. The beat's more mellow than "Ok, You're Right," which is actually better. I think part 2 is better than the original. "I just sit and watch the internet ride rapper's dicks, giving 'em five stars, I kill 'em in five bars." Best line. Once again, Slaughterhouse drops August 11th. Cop it.

Jay-Z - Run This Town (feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)
Produced by Kanye, this is the first REAL single from The Blueprint 3, replacing "Off That" with Drake. This is one I've been waiting for, a Jay/Kanye collabo on a Jay album (not counting "The Bounce," which sucked). Rihanna's on the hook and sounds good. This along with "D.O.A." really has me looking forward to The Blueprint 3. I've heard Kanye and Rihanna refered to as Jay's little bro and little sis respectively and I actually agree with that. I've also heard a lot of people claiming Kanye was better than Jay on this song. I'd say that's true, but Jay wasn't bad himself. The Blueprint 3 drops September 11th.

Kid Cudi - Call Me Moon Man
An unreleased Cudi joint, one that I'm not exactly sure is going to be on Man on the Moon, but that won't stop by from looking forward to it. September's looking good, Raekwon, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Megadeth, Dethklok (yes, I'm gonna be reviewing metal. Yayz?) This joint's like Mr. Solo Dolo and Day 'N' Nite, it's not your typical hip-hop song, but it's great. September 15th.

Royce da 5'9" - 8-11
Royce joins Crooked in releasing a track dedicated to hype up the Slaughterhouse debut. I have no idea what beat Royce is on, or even if he's on one, since the beginning features a woman singing "8-11... all must fall." Royce is my favorite out of Slaughterhouse, looking forward to the Street Hop album he's putting out this year (6 Premier joints). I actually prefer this to Crook's joint.

2Pac - Changed Man (feat. Big Syke & Nate Dogg)
I have no idea where this song is from or if it's unreleased as I picked it up when Ivan from Hip Hop Is Read linked me to it on Twitter. Anyway, I still don't like Big Syke. Never have, never will. Nate Dogg on the other hand, he's awesome. Tops everyone in the hook department. 2Pac sounds good, which he always did.

2Pac - If There's a Cure (I Don't Want It) (feat. Snoop Dogg)
I also got this from Ivan on Twitter. I prefer it to Changed Man. Whenever Snoop and Pac are on the same track, you know it's gonna be good (e.g., 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted). And, also, according to NahRight, 14 other unreleased Pac tracks leaked today (which I can't get, since it's on zshare).

There we go. If anything noteworthy drops tonight (like Joe and Joell's version of 8-11... maybe...?) I'll update it. Next review probably coming later tonight... depends, I'm on a roll at the moment.