Album Review: Slaughterhouse- Slaughterhouse

15 years ago view-show 1,016,037

slaughter-cover_phixrThe term “supergroup” is kind of taboo in the music industry, especially in Hip-Hop.

Most times than not, they fizzle into nothingness before even having a chance to actually materialize, or after a huge hype, they fade into obscurity (hence The Four Horsemen and The Firm).

But taking notes and learning from those mistakes is Joe Budden, Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, and Royce da 5’9” [Click for Royce interview] who come together to form Slaughterhouse.

Creating an Internet buzz since talks of their union first came to fruition, the foursome who has all enjoyed solo success drop their self-titled album.

With all MC’s possessing an abundance of lyrical prowess, features are few and far between with only hypeman supreme Fat Man Scoop and Pharoahe Monch briefly making appearances.

The album wouldn’t be complete without the production side being taken care of, and beatsmiths such as The Alchemist [Click for Alchemist interview], DJ Khalil, StreetRunner, Mr. Porter, and Emile all provide their services.

The Slaughterhouse experiment begins with the royal horns of ‘Sound Off,’ (prod. by StreetRunner) where  Royce da 5’9″ breaks down every member’s position before going into a lyrical tirade, followed by his bandmates. The Alchemist makes things interesting with his contribution to ‘Microphone,’ where all four MC’s explain how handling a microphone isn’t for everyone.

The DJ Khalil-produced ‘Cuckoo’ travels into the mind of Slaughterhouse, as they all discuss their crazy tendencies in an intricate and lyrical manner, behind a beat that goes right along with their subject matter.

‘Onslaught 2’ (prod. by Emile) features an adlib-happy Fat Man Scoop, as Slaughterhouse handles their business as usual over the up tempo track.

Mr. Porter uses drawn-out guitar riffs to slow down the pace on ‘Salute,’ which features Pharoahe Monch on the hook. Other songs on the near-flawless project is their ode to Hip-Hop in ‘Cut You Loose, ‘Rain Drops,’ ‘Killaz’ featuring Melanie Rutherford, and of course the rock-influenced ‘The One’ produced by DJ Khalil and featuring The New Royals.

Putting all egos aside for the greater good, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Joe Budden, and Royce da 5’9″ do an exceptional job of putting out a project worthy of making people open up their carefully-guarded wallets, and make purchase.

The cohesiveness between all MC’s shows throughout the album; with no one trying to one-up the other, or without any songs sounding forced and thrown together.

Displaying such a powerful showing on their first time out, the only way Slaughterhouse can disappoint their fans is if they don’t come back and do it again, which is highly unlikely…

Rating: 4.0

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