Slaughterhouse's Slaughterhouse: A Review

I admit, I'm biased. I am not exactly a Joe Budden fan (though I do respect his talent), but I went to his show at SOBs a few months ago because I was excited to see the first ever live appearance of Slaughterhouse - the supergroup featuring him, Royce da 5'9", Crooked I, and Joell Ortiz. When I first heard Onslaught (which I have heard at least 100 times by the way no thanks to radio), I was thrilled that four super-talented emcees inspired by and obsessed with real hip-hop circa (think Wu-Tang, Kool G. Rap, Nasty Nas, Boot Camp Clik, Redman, etc.) would be releasing an album. And I held my breath because (1) each of these rappers have planned multiple projects that have not been released, and (2) they could somehow release something overly commercial. Oh, and (3) none of these emcees is especially known for songwriting. The album could be nothing but battle rapping - which would be good for fans who want lyricism, but terrible for the exposure they deserve.

The album is what you'd expect - mostly battle rapping, with a few radio ready singles, like The One, which follows in the current rapper-as-rock-star trend, but does so with flair, not to mention ample wordplay. In fact the album is practically all wordplay, from the opener Sound Off, where each emcee goes from double-time to triple time cadence over a trumpet driven instrumental to Onslaught 2, which may outpace both the original and Warriors - the excellent Slaughterhouse-featured track on Royce's The Revival EP (read review) in terms of intensity and wordplay. The beats are solid and the songs start to get more personal towards the latter half. There are too many winners to name, but notables include Salute, Pray, and Rain Drops, which yield insight into the character of each emcee.Also, notable is Cut You Loose, an almost expected critique of the industry. If there's one gripe, these emcees could have included one or two more concept records on the album: something on the order of Rewind from Nas' Stillmatic album (read review). But for an album produced in six days, the results are incredible.

It's clear that the emcees have great chemistry with each other - this is not a Jay-Z/R. Kelly album. They trade verses with each other effortlessly like they grew up together, like Wu-Tang. In fact, beyond the current simmering tension between the two groups, Wu-Tang is one of the best points of comparison, as each rapper brings not only considerable lyricism but different cadences and styles to each track, and each Slaughterhouse emcee is featured on each record. Each rapper is clearly vying for fans to declare them the best on each track, making these verses surpass quite a bit of their solo work. It's refreshing too in that there are not any overt commercial concessions, like Wu-Tang's debut Enter the 36 Chambers. Hopefully, like Wu-Tang's debut, this album will heat up over time until Slaughterhouse become household names. They do definitely deserve it, given their talent, their dedication to their craft, and their potential. And the album, arguably an instant classic, if it doesn't bring lyricism back to the forefront, it definitely will satisfy any music fan who wants to see rap music the way it should be done.