Fair or not, the story of Slaughterhouse will most likely be filled with expectations and what it takes to meet those credentials. From Joe Budden’s initial Top 50 success, to Royce Da 5’9 and Joell Ortiz’s Shady affiliations, each member has had to deal with an onslaught of comparisons for their mainstream appeal. Solidifying a 2011 partnership with Eminem (with the backing of Interscope), was supposed to be the groups initial breakthrough, but hasn’t exactly tempered such expectations.
Slaughterhouse ditched the money hunt and shirked the duty of attempting to appeal to the mainstream crowd by releasing the 10-track mixtape House Rules via DatPiff.com. The results were amazing. With a more concise, cohesive effort, Royce, Budden, Ortiz and Crooked were able to bring that raw talent that we have been use too, but with edge to it. It’s almost as if the whole squad was looking for more. Whereas previous songs sometimes came across as a fan referendum, House Rules is both entertaining and brutally honest in its self-awareness — signs of their old music are depicted throughout. Joell begins describes himself as a “rough New Yorker fuckin’ bitches that only listen to Drake,” and Royce jokes about how their intro is “about nothing.” It’s arguably one the most quirky moments for Slaughterhouse, almost releasing how underground their music really is. The fact they’ve evolved past rapping for the sake of rapping is on full display throughout the entire project, with Budden, Royce and Crooked all taking solo turns on “Trade It All,” “Keep It 100” and “Struggle” — something that would never happen nowadays.
Each member presents a unique and different style, while still seemingly going with the competition that seems to be evident throughout the project. With the 8 Bars and Dark Knight-produced “Trade It All” being one of the few exceptions, Joe and the crew decide to take the record to a different level. Trading 16’s like picks in the NBA draft, Joe Budden, Crooked, and the entire crew chose a ruthless route that each could go in on respectively.
Further into the tape, the crew starts to bring up the topics of sobriety and family matters — with Budden speaking on a sick grandfather and the tension stemming from everyone — including his entire listening audience on the song “SayDatThen.” Crooked I brings lyricism to a whole new level (“I’m Dominick Whitcliffe, I’m James’ son / Even though he wore a condom, I busted through / And I can’t forget where I came from…”) with a disapproving viewview on today’s rap industry, along with some shots taken at V. Stiviano.
At this point in time, hearing Royce Da 5’9, Crooked I, Joe Budden and Joell Ortiz successfully play to their strengths without being forced fed mainstream qualities isn’t such a surprise to me — but it did show me a different side of them. Although this tape is a thing to come, we are still left with a ton of questions and what-if undertones. As we venture off into the future, Slaughterhouse will look to still become a household name, but maybe, with the light of this new tape, they will start to bring back their style that got them to where they are now. But until then, I guess we’ll have to just wait and see.
– @itssJoey 8.1/10
