Wikipedia’s write-up of the rap group Slaughterhouse is written in the past tense. So I guess it’s really over. And Joell Ortiz’s new partnership with KXng Crooked, both former members of the group (alongside Royce Da 5’9″ and Joe Budden), is all about the fall of the rap group.
Ortiz and Crooked have never had better commercial success than they did with the group, so it makes sense that they lament the loss—which was full of industry drama and interpersonal conflicts. As a fan of Joell Ortiz’s style—which emphasizes honesty about his life—I dig this kind of thing. Royce and Budden didn’t. They took it as a dis when Ortiz complains about why they can’t get it together to come back to the group—but they need to listen closer. This album is about love and loss, grief and the feeling genuinely missing a partnership that worked. Rappers are so sensitive.
Anyway, it sells records.
The reception for this album hasn’t been bad, but it hasn’t been great. I disagree. This is a terrific album.
