Super-groups are the Halley’s Comet of Hip-Hop: rarely are they seen, but when they are, witnesses can surely expect something special. Such is the same for the foursome known as Slaughterhouse. Comprised of Royce Da 5’9”, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I, the group has had the Internet in a veritable Figure Four Leg-lock since their debut on Budden’s Halfway House. Royce spoke with HipHopDX last week about the group’s unexpected beginnings.
“I had no idea [Slaughterhouse would become like this],” said the Detroit emcee. “I had no idea. I wasn’t even looking in to the future like that…I made my priority to do [the original ‘Slaughterhouse’ song] because it was Joe [Budden], and then when he got Crooked [I] and [Joell] Ortiz and them, I said ‘Yo, I’ve got to do this.’ I was actually at the hospital [during the recording] because my wife had just went into labor with my daughter. I actually left the hospital, went to the studio and knocked it out real quick and came right back…when the song hit the ‘net, it just put [it] in such a frenzy. Joey called me back and was like ‘Yo man, we need to keep doing songs.’ I was like ‘Shit, I’m with you.’ We just kept doing stuff and doing stuff and eventually, it just manifested itself [into a group].”
Yet Slaughterhouse is no average super-group. Where others failed to find success or a cohesive sound, Slaughterhouse most does. Royce says that their self-titled debut album, which is set for an August 11 release on E1 Music, will teach fans and critics alike to expect the unexpected.
“We’re going to give people an album, a real album, and that’s what I don’t think people think we’re capable of doing,” said Royce. “Often times in interviews, I get asked ‘Are you going to have hooks on the album,’ and to me, that’s the craziest fucking question I’ve ever heard in my life, because it’s like, ‘What album have you heard that doesn’t have hooks on it?’ We’re going to be doing some real songs, concepts, everything. There’s going to be times where we’ve got ‘Onslaught’-type songs where we just go bar-for-bar, verses back-to-back. We’ve got a few of those. I think people are going to be surprised when they hear we can actually make songs…I think that’s what people expect [from super-groups]. They automatically put you in that box. I don’t necessarily look at it as a problem because I know the album that we have is going to get us out of that box. I feel like we’re honestly about to prove that this group can be big, not just an Internet group that can kick a bunch of fucking freestyles, an actual big group that you see plastered all over your television and all over everything.”
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