Tag: Joell Ortiz

Album Review: Kxng Crooked & Joell Ortiz – “JFKLAX”

Artists: H.A.R.D. (KXNG Crooked & Joell Ortiz)
Label: Hitmaker Music Group
Release date: February 24, 2023
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ (8.9/10)

My Ears perk up every time I catch wind of KXNG Crooked and Joell Ortiz doing another collaboration album. Ever since they debuted themselves as the duo known simply as “H.A.R.D.” they just haven’t missed. I’m not sure if the term exists, but I’m officially going to refer to these guys as a super-duo for now on. This is what happens when two members of a spitter-heavy supergroup leave but decide to keep their halves of the quartet alive. 

H.A.R.D. first started making waves under this new brand alias a couple of years ago with their self-titled debut EP. They would come to release several projects that sparked some conversations within the nitty-gritty communities of hip-hop bar heads, like myself. Most notably, they recently decided to give us one last look inside the Slaughterhouse they helped build before burning it down forever with their “The Rise & Fall Of Slaughterhouse” album. As the 1-year anniversary of their official duo debut album approaches this month, they’re making a significant return with this snack-size “JFKLAX” EP.

  1. Take Time

Joell starts off with an extremely confident, self-aware verse over a sonically celebratory instrumental. Joell is letting us know that the super-duo is back for a legendary return after a 1-year break. Crooked really knows how to start a verse: “Like Crows Feet Around The Eyes, Them Lines Take Time, When They Come From A Lot Of Smiling, I Won’t Erase Mine”. His whole contribution to this track is one long string of some of the hardest bars on this EP. He delivers his verse with a flow that implies he knows how crazy he went on this track. I love it! 

  1. Dodgers

This track is overall a much slower tempo than the opener. It’s more of a retrospective love letter to the Duo’s West Coast home and ties to the Eastside. I like the emotion this groovy, sort of funkadelic production brings to the track. It’s such a skill within itself for Crooked to somehow effortlessly speed his flow up and down without it becoming distracting. It’s as if he just flips a switch on or off.

  1. Foe Or Friend

I’m a sucker for horns, keys, and drums. This track follows the recipe for a banger because it has all three. It’s easily my favorite beat on the EP. You’ll likely enjoy the production if you’re a Jay-Z fan, especially if you recognize those very familiar hi-hat sounds. There’s also a pretty obvious sample of “Hey, What’s That You Say.” Crooked’s relentless, unstoppable flow that chainsaws through this production is why I’m calling this track the best of the five on the EP.

  1. Stay Dangerous (Featuring Sly Paper)

A woman opens this track with spoken word dialogue that sets the stage for a track about living through poverty in a dangerous city. You could write this track off as cliche about surviving in a rough city, but you shouldn’t! The intelligent rhymes are reason enough to enjoy the track, but the passion from both artists is what keeps it fresh to the listeners’ ears. Joell, in particular, does a great job painting a clear picture with descriptive lyrical imagery. Sly Paper cleans up shop and ties the track off at the end with a soulful, cinematic bridge/outro that sounds like it belongs in a dramatic crime movie.

  1. Blue Magic

The EP closes similarly to how it opens. We’re given one more confident duet to close out the project, brought to you by freshly sharpened pens. The main difference between this and the opener is that this track rightfully gives off a sense of winding down. For such a short project, they ran hot while it lasted. There’s a very touching feeling of mutual respect between Joell and Crooked with this EP –  two heavyweights seeing eye to eye. You can’t fake the level of sincerity on this track. 

Final Thoughts

I have to salute this duo for how hard they’ve been working over these last few years. It’s incredibly rare to get this many consistently high-quality projects within such a short time span. You have to respect this kind of grind. I know this is just a quick EP, but I feel like I’ve just been through a full-length album. It’s almost unfathomable how dense and deep every inch of technical lyricism gets with these two. I could have taken the time to break down every bar on the project, but the review would end up looking like a damn novel.

Written By CeaTee Reviews

Instagram: @CeaTee_Reviews

Kxng Crooked & Joell Ortiz talk how Joe Budden & Eminem’s fall out affected “Glass House”

Kxng Crooked and Joell Ortiz have recently sat down with Math Hoffa, Mr. Mecc and Sean Bigga for the latest episode of My Expert Opinion where the crew talked about how Joe Budden and Eminem‘s fall out led “Glass House” album to be scrapped and how “I Will” track from Music To Be Murdered By came about.

“Em never came out and attacked Joe without, in his mind, a reason. The only time he started mentioning Joe was after Joe said his s**t was trash on his show. And that particular song on Music To Be Murdered By album (“I Will”), those verses are five years old and the way that song came about is when we were all in Detroit, recording some other s**t. Then me and him (Joell Ortiz) jumped on some s**t. And Em always liked it and it ended up putting on his album.” said Kxng Crooked.

Then he continues: “One of the reasons Glass House didn’t drop is that Joe wanted off the label. He didn’t want to do it so how you gonna drop an album on a label that you don’t want to have anything to do with? You have to be there to promote the album. You gotta be there to run around. Do videos and visuals. If you don’t want to be on a label, how gonna make it out? I’m not saying Joe single-handedly stopped the album coming out but it played a role.”

“If the album would have came out, it would have been pretty expensive. We had a Slaughterhouse of producers. We had Just Blaze. We had Justice League. We had Cardiak. We had AraabMuzik. We had !llmind. We had Q-Tip. We always wanted to put it out. I did several conference calls. The date would get moved.” Kxng Crooked added.

You can watch the interview below:

Kxng Crooked & Joell Ortiz drop joint project “Rise & Fall Of Slaughterhouse”

After a wave of critiques from Royce 5’9″ and Joe Budden and Joell Ortiz heated argument going viral, Kxng Crooked and Joell Ortiz drop their joint controversial project “Rise & Fall Of Slaughterhouse”

“I’ve been talking about my life in the booth since I was eight. This is a part and a chapter of my life. So, I got all rights to talk about my life. If they don’t like it, I can’t be mad at that. I ain’t mad at that. Nobody is going to tell me I have to ask for permission to talk about my life. Musically.” said Crooked before releasing the project.

The Rise & Fall of Slaughterhouse only features two guest appearances from Blakk Soul and Sly Pyper ‘The Wizard’, and Traxx Sanders.

You can stream the much-anticipated project below!

Joe Budden & Joell Ortiz got into heated argument about Slaughterhouse break-up

Kxng Crooked and Joell Ortiz have recently announced their new collaborative project, titled “The Rise And Fall Of Slaughterhouse.” The two also dropped the first two singles off the project and Royce 5’9″ and Joe Budden are not happy about it.

Yesterday, Joe Budden and Joell Ortiz exchanged some harsh words on Instagram live chat. Things took a turn after Joell called out Budden and Royce Da 5’9 for spinning some “wild a*s narrative” about his and Crooked’s forthcoming album.

“Y’all out here running around with some wild a*s narrative, lying about me and Crooked like we went and took a bag. Y’all got people out here saying we doing things for a bag. I never done nothing for a bag.”

Joell continued, “Y’all know me better than that. If anybody spinning the narrative, it’s y’all two gentlemen. Especially you, Royce. You out here talking about the 25 percent. You had 25 percent and you burned it down. You doing all types of mathematical equations about housing ownership and s**t. The bottom line is this: Crooked brought a bag to the table for something y’all ain’t been f**king with for a long time.”

Joell later asked Joe to support the album instead of hate, on which, the response was pretty harsh: “Suck my ***k. Are you kidding me?” Joe snapped.

“N***a, suck my d**k, don’t go there. Don’t do that. That little comment right there. You gonna wish you retracted that one.” said Joell and left the chat.

You can watch the full thing below:

Royce 5’9″ is upset with Joell Ortiz and KXNG Crooked for releasing “Vacancy”

Yesterday, KXNG Crooked and Joell Ortiz teamed up to drop their new single “Vacancy,” featuring Blaak Soul, from their upcoming joint project, titled Rise & Fall Of Slaughterhouse.

In the song, the two former Slaughterhouse emcees reflect on their group’s break up and pack up Slaughterhouse mementos, which cause Royce Da 5’9″ to feel very unhappy, in fact, upset.

In one of the Instagram comments, Royce said: “So disappointed in them.” and indicated that some of the lines Crooked and Joell rapped were lies.

Royce even called out his Slaughterhouse brothers on Twitter, saying: “This is the dumbest s**t I’ve EVER seen a smart person do.. 2 smart people.. Together… United in stupidity..”

Check out the comments and tweets below:

Joell Ortiz & Kxng Crooked announce “Rise & Fall Of Slaughterhouse” album, drop new single “Vacancy”

KXNG Crooked and Joell Ortiz have teamed up to drop their new single “Vacancy,” featuring Blaak Soul.

In the accompanying music video, the two former Slaughterhouse emcees reflect on their group’s break up and pack up Slaughterhouse mementos while their die-hard fans burn their tees.

In his verse, Joell raps: Royce said he ain’t doing the three man without Joe But Joe said he retired so how the hell is supposed to go / I looked in the eyes of Crooked I and said one last time he said let’s go / So this one’s for the fans and anyone else who wants to know / Why the best group ever / Turned out to be one of the best groups that never / Got back to the sun after the Shady era / S**t Paul wasn’t on his best behavior / And Joe’s comments about Em left no revival for major endeavors / So the gang dropped the flag got off the label.”

Crooked’s verse was as emotional as Joell’s: “He didn’t start the group he can’t end it don’t blame Marshall / He didn’t start the group he can’t end it don’t blame Paul / And fans been there from the beginning can’t blame y’all.” -raps KXNG.

“Vacancy” is a single off KXNG Crooked and Joell Ortiz upcoming project, called Rise & Fall Of Slaughterhouse.

You can watch the music video below:

Joell Ortiz references Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar & Jay Z in a new song

After “OG,” Joell Ortiz released second song from his upcoming album “Autograph,” which is coming out via Mello Music Group on November 12th, 2021.

The new track is called “In My Feelings” and it is produced by The Heatmakerz.

In the song, Joell namedrops lots of artist to showcase how underrate he is. He references Eminem at the end of the verse with the following bars: “The four-headed monster flamed s**t above average / Then they called the Fire Marshall, with the last name Mathers.”

Joell also mentions lots of other names like Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Joe Budden and Slaughterhouse among others.

You can bump the new track below:

Joell Ortiz & Kxng Crooked proposes Slaughterhouse reunion following Royce & Lupe fallout

Joell Ortiz has proposed the Slaughterhouse reunion after Knxg Crooked made comments about Royce Da 5’9″ and Lupe Fiasco falling out.

“There is still time to reunite Slaughterhouse. Let’s just all get in the booth bro.” said Joell on which Crooked agreed. Check twitter conversation below:

Also, Royce Da 5’9″ has recently shared couple of snippets from “Glass House” album and fans started speculations instantly: IS SLAUGHTERHOUSE COMING BACK?! WILL JOE BUDDEN COME OUT OF RETIREMENT?!

Royce 5’9″ & Joell Ortiz talk about Griselda comparisons, “I Will” song with Eminem & more

During a recent interview with Marisa Mendez on HipHopDX, Royce Da 5’9″ was surprisingly joined by Joell Ortiz where the two proceeded to stroll down memory lane, reflecting on their Slaughterhouse, reuniting on Eminem’s “I Will” for Music To Be Murdered By album, and sharing a few thoughts on the Griselda movement:

“Griselda did not necessarily get more mainstream attention than we did. We actually released an album. It was two totally different journeys. I do understand the comparison.” said Royce and Joell added: “They anti-establishment, like we are.”

Then the two talk about “I Will” song: “That song was a joint we did a long time ago. Em just went back through it, cause he does that sometimes. Especially if we go to his studio to record it, nobody will take a copy of it. It’ll be something that exists in his world. When he called me and told me that he wanted to use it, I was like f**k, I know he ain’t gonna let me change my verse. But then I heard my verse and thought, okay, that’s cool.” said Royce.

“I thought the exact same thing Royce. I hadn’t heard it in years. It definitely held up.” added Joell Ortiz

Watch the video below:

Joell Ortiz answers fan questions about Slaughterhouse, Eminem & more

Slaughterhouse’s Joell Ortiz, who has released H.A.R.D. joint album with Kxng Crooked this year, did the question and answer session on Twitter. And of course fans asked questions about Eminem too. Check out some of the highlights below:

Q1: Do you miss touring and hanging with slaughterhouse as a whole group not just you and Kxng Crooked?
Joell Ortiz: Absolutely! One thing you all may not know is that every single member of Slaughterhouse is funny as f**K. Man, those tours were epic! You had to be there.

Q2: When some new heat coming man. I’m talking slaughterhouse nasty Joell?
Ortiz: 2021.

Q3: Favorite Glass House joint? Also, a song that you love which you wish you made.
Ortiz: I’d tell you my favorite Glass House joint, but I’d like to keep hope alive that you just may hear it one day yourself. And I love Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up”. Timeless classic.

Q4: What do you think about Griselda?
Ortiz: TOUGH.

Q5: A collaboration you did that had you like “wtf I’m doing a record with this person?!”
Ortiz: Probably some of the early Slaughterhouse records with Eminem.

Q6: Would you trade Glass House album for a PS5?
Ortiz: [Laughs] Nah, but a Slaughterhouse PS5 game would be fire.

Q7: What’s your dream collaboration?
Ortiz: Jay Z.

Q8: You have any plans on working with any of the Griselda members?
Ortiz: For sure. 100 percent.

Q9: Some of your favorite albums of the year besides you and Crook’s project?
Ortiz: Nas’ “King Disease” is fire!

Q10: Who’s your favorite West Coast rapper, past or present?
Ortiz: Besides Crook, 2 Pac.

Q11: What’s the most intimidated you have been in the booth?
Ortiz: Never been intimidated in there. But being around Slaughterhouse and Eminem was definitely inspiring.

Q12: Who made you wanna rap? Who were you listening to coming up in NY. I’d like to dig in the crates of older music that helped mold the artists I like to listen to.
Ortiz: Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Jay Z, Notorious B.I.G, Nas, The Lox and more!

 

 

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