Slaughterhouse - "Slaughterhouse"

Here we find Royce Da 5'9", Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I, 4 rappers from four places...

No, fuck that, you can Google the story.
All the 3 of you need to know is that when I found THE internet, Eminem's first album was coming out and Royce was on the best song album (in my opinion, of course) and when I got HIGH SPEED internet, I was getting Clue CDs for free and Joe Budden was TEARING THEM DOWN.
Furthering of connoisseur (yes, that is spelled right) comes from my years at this shit, see my summary of the 90s last week in this very blog if you doubt me. I was never into Crooked I, and only within the last 6 months began to feel Joell Ortiz, but the fact remains that I respect the work of all 4 involved parties PRIOR to this project, especially Budden and Royce.
Ignoring the paths of Crooked I and Joell Ortiz, who would flounder on Death Row Records and Aftermath respectively, I STAYED in my fanship of Joey and Royce in the in between, as far as to feel just a little hurt when they were kinda at one another following a line from Royce "My wife don't like my album, she say it sound like I hold grudges/she rather listen to Joe Budden" which Joe took offense to and went back at him with some talk of him having fallen off, then there was more back and forth.
Busy, I missed the resolution, but there was a collab between the involved artists on Joe's "Halfway House" album on a song with INFINITE repeat value... Seriously, find the album, find that song, get in the car and put it on repeat, see if you ain't in the next fucking state over before you realize it. Yes, I know the money it cost me to get back from Virginia when I fell victim to this song, but that is not what this blog is about.

The slow death of hip hop has culminated with this, a year where I have literally bought NOTHING newly released, instead backfilling my collection with things from years' past that I needed but didn't have for whatever reason. As it were, the "industry" has buzzed over people I just can't fix myself to give a mad assfuck about (ahem *cough* AsherRothKidCudiDrake *cough*).
Got damn that Swine Flu.

Anyway, I still love what I love, and it seems that these days it takes for an artist/artists to have to be fucked over by the Tall Israelis that make this industry run to reaffirm the passion to make the industry that which like old heads like myself love. Apparently at this point, it no longer makes sense to really put it on the floor, rap your ASS off and make an album suggesting your willingness to do such, do a ton of shows to feed your kids and let the chips fall where your maker will have them.

This is an album review isn't it?

Read that last full paragraph again.
You will see that it is my means of explanation of my acceptance and promotion of this album 4 full months before I'd heard a SINGLE FUCKING SONG on it... Yes, I will readily cop that my raps are so shitty that I will NEVER publicly claim to rhyme (after this) and that I often hate the beats I make so badly that I move them to a random folder on the computer and hope to never see them again. On the other side of that we find ourselves in the middle of an album with ELITE lyricism and a pretty good beat selection. One is willing to forgive beat selection when comparing sales numbers prior and that this album is released on E-1 -- formerly known as "Koch," which was a graveyard for artists who just couldn't cut it on a major or trying to inexpensively kick it off, again independently.

Yes, I downloaded the album, I did so DAYS ago, it released this Tuesday and I am fully ensconced in the motions that will see me purchasing a home for myself and The Katie in my hopes of the eventuality of our future together. I will buy it when a few bucks free themselves up on the other side of the process...

No, I will not do like some others and review this album song-for-song because...

1. I am listening to it as I type this.
2. Anther blog I am subscribed to (whatup Max!!!), visible in the links below, does that as his calling card already.

I am STRONGLY suggesting a purchase of this. This is the work of 4 individuals who have had reason to be arrogant, then brutally humbled in the industry come with something with the hunger of artists who have seen NEITHER side of that sentence but make good on THEIR unearned sense of entitlement. They pull it off with amazing rhymes and an OBVIOUS professional competitive spirit. Anyone who has ever rapped with anyone else knows you don't want to get bodied in your own damn song.
Part of me, the writer in me that is, imagines studio sessions, which purportedly were all within a VERY short period time, were rife with arguments over who would get the last verse in a song. Fuck what you thought, something inside of me creates EXCITEMENT over product like this.

Look, I will not call this a "classic" release, because I have already expressed that the beats are just less than the quality of the lyrics -- not on a level of Canibus' first album but still -- but this is one of those products that is FULLY worth the money, if only to help in the finance of what CAN be if the presented set-aside of egos is allowed to continue. In a year filled with such bullshit as 2009 has been for 225.78ish days now, I can only PRAY for more shit like this for the rest of the year.


Off to kick it with The Katie shortly, I am wrapping this presentation up now, I'll get at y'all whenever it happens.