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The SlaughterHouse project hit the web this weekend and I have been listening to the album on a loop. The album is everything I wanted it to be. It’s four emcees trading the microphone in a verbal sparring competition. From the outset you had to feel this was going to be a sick album. The opening track ‘Sound Off’ cuts your ears like a razor tucked inside someone’s cheek.

Sound Off

SlaughterHouse re-introduced Joe Budden, Royce and Crooked I to me. These were rappers that I never listened to for extended periods but with Joell Ortiz alongside of them I see what have been missing. Royce has been the biggest revelation to me while Crooked I is simply a lyrical monster. Joe Budden is simply insane. Why isn’t he called Joe Bananas?

Budden’s line on ‘Microphone’ basically sums up the rap music game currently. “Too many blueprints and not enough architects”. That is a mean fucking line. I don’t feel like it is a shot at Jay-Z as much as it is a shot at the Jigga copycats in the business. And yeah, maybe a slight shot at Jay for making the 10th Blueprint album.

When you look at the runtimes for my favorite tracks on the album you see something that most rap songs today don’t have. A nearly 5 minute length [ll]. Those aren’t going to be songs that accommodate terrestrial radio formats. That means that the SlaughterHouse project is going to fly on the strength of the fans and their word of mouth.

With albums like Rick Ro$$ ‘Deeper Than Rap’ selling better than 100K units in its first week I have predicted the same results for the SlaughterHouse debut. The Ro$$ album had the benefit of radio to promote its sales. The SlaughterHouse project has the internets. That didn’t work too well for Asher Roth’s debut. Let’s see what happens in the case of four master lyricists.

I’m rating this album 3.5/4 Baywatch Pam Andersons.

We all knew there would be rhymes for days on this disk. The beats are as triumphant as the words from these emcees who were left for dead by the music industry. I wish all the previously leaked singles were on the album too so I could have a disk with them all on one place. I’m also a little disappointed that the M.O.P. x SlaughterHouse joint isn’t on the album.

I’m gonna run a little contest for my peoples here on the internets. I’m giving away an official SlaughterHouse x FLUD watch to the reader that comes the closest to predicting the SlaughterHouse first week sales. Just leave your prediction on the comments thread. I’ll keep the contest open until August 11th so get in where you fit in.

SlaughterHouse self-titled debut drops 08.11.09.

Killaz