Joell Christopher Ortiz (born July 6, 1980) is an American rapper and a former member of the group

Slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

. Ortiz grew up in the

Cooper Park Houses Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

in the

East Williamsburg East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Plac ...

section of Brooklyn, New York, formerly signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label. He was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of ''The Source'' Magazine and was also selected as Chairman's Choice in ''XXL'' Magazine. During the same time Joell also went on to win the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earned his song "Mean Business" a spot on the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack. The same year he was offered a contract to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. He released his debut album '' The Brick: Bodega Chronicles'' in 2007. Since then, he has released '' Free Agent'' (2011), ''

House Slippers ''House Slippers'' is the third studio album by American rapper Joell Ortiz. The album was released on September 16, 2014, by Penalty Entertainment. The album features guest appearances from Lee Carr, B.o.B, Mally Stakz, Royce da 5'9", Joe Budden ...

'' (2014) and ''Monday'' (2019). He is currently one half of the rap duo Crook and Joell with his former Slaughterhouse bandmate,

Crooked I Dominick Antron Wickliffe (born September 23, 1976), better known by his stage names Crooked I and Kxng Crooked, (stylised as KXNG Crooked and pronounced "King Crooked") is an American rapper from Long Beach, California. He is best known as a for ...

. Together, they released three studio albums.

Biography

Joell Christopher Ortiz was born to Puerto Rican parents in Brooklyn, New York on July 6, 1980, where he grew up in

. He was formerly signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label. He was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of ''The Source'' Magazine and was also selected as Chairman's Choice in ''XXL'' Magazine. During the same time Joell also went on to win the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earned his song "Mean Business" a spot on the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack. The same year he was offered a contract to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. The deal quickly went sour which caused Joell to start beef with Jermaine. Joell has since collaborated with

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

and

Kool G. Rap Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper from Queens, New York City. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as ...

. Joell released his street album called '' The Brick: Bodega Chronicles'' April 24, 2007, on Koch Records. The album was recorded while Joell was trying to get signed and going through some tough times personally. Although he was signed to Aftermath Entertainment, Dr. Dre allowed him to release the street album on Koch Records. ''The Brick'' features production by Showbiz, The Alchemist, Domingo, Ho Chi from Killahertz Productions, Lil' Fame of

M.O.P. M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip hop duo composed of East Coast rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame. The song " Ante Up", was released on their ''Warriorz'' album in 2000. The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premi ...

Novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, and Moss, among others. Guest spots include

Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hi ...

, Styles P,

Big Noyd TaJuan Akeem Perry (born May 7, 1975), better known by his stage name Big Noyd, is an American rapper from Queensbridge, Queens, New York. He is closely affiliated with Mobb Deep and is featured on all of their albums except ''Blood Money''. C ...

, M.O.P, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, Ras Kass, Stimuli, and Novel. Ortiz is one quarter of the

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

Slaughterhouse who released their highly anticipated '' Slaughterhouse EP'' on February 8, 2011. The group released their second studio album, '' Welcome to: Our House'', on August 28, 2012.

Music career

He was on Kool G Rap's 2002 album "The Giancana Story" on the song "It's Nothing"

2007–2010: ''The Brick: Bodega Chronicles'' and joining Slaughterhouse

Though signed to Aftermath, Ortiz released an album titled '' The Brick: Bodega Chronicles'' April 24, 2007 on Koch Records.XXL Magazine. Joell Ortiz: A Hip-Hop Happy Ending by Brandon Edwards. November 2007 ''The Brick'' features production by Showbiz, Street Radio, and The Alchemist, among others. Guest artists include rappers

, Styles P,

, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, and Ras Kass. Ortiz parted ways with Aftermath Entertainment on April 15, 2008. 2009 was a busy year for Ortiz, as he released a number of freestyles and remixes leading up to the ''Road Kill'' mixtape. Among these was "Stressful" a song that remixed Drake's "Successful." Joe Budden reached out to

Royce da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Montgomery is currently one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, and ...

, Joell Ortiz, and Nino Bless for a track titled "Slaughterhouse" on his digital release, '' Halfway House''. Based on the reception of the track, they decided to form a super-group, minus Nino Bless, and named it after the first song they made together. They released numerous songs throughout early 2009, building a buzz for their self-titled album which was released through E1 on August 11, 2009. The album features production from

Alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

, DJ Khalil and

Mr. Porter Denaun Porter (born December 7, 1974), also known by the stage names Mr. Porter, Kon Artis, and more recently simply Denaun, is an American rapper and music producer. He was a member of Detroit hip hop group D12 until its disbandment in 2018. ...

, plus guest appearances from Pharoahe Monch, K-Young, and The New Royales. In January 2011, the group signed to Shady Records and left

E1 Entertainment E1, E01, E.I or E-1 may refer to: Transportation Aircraft * Azcárate O-E-1, Azcárate E-1, a Mexican sesquiplane trainer * Fokker E.I, a German fighter aircraft * Grumman E-1 Tracer, an American airborne early warning aircraft * Hydra Technolog ...

2010–2014: ''Free Agent'' and ''House Slippers''

Ortiz started to have problems with

and after almost a year, Ortiz left the label on November 5, 2010. In August 2010, Ortiz was in talks, about signing a deal with

Steve Rifkind Steve Rifkind (born March 2, 1962) is an American music entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Loud Records and of SRC Records.

's label SRC Records. However the deal was never finished. In an October 31, 2010, interview on Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, Ortiz discussed his relationship with

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

and the flood of record labels that have flocked to sign him after his ''Free Agent'' album was released. He also spoke of

's excitement at working with him. During

2012 tour, the group stopped in Las Vegas, Nevada at Bootleg Kev's radio show, where they talked about their album '' Welcome to: Our House'', and their work with

. It was revealed that Ortiz signed with Shady Records as a solo act. In 2012, Joell as part of the group Slaughterhouse released their second album ''Welcome To Our House'' on August 28, 2012. On September 16, 2014, Ortiz released his third studio album ''

''. The album features guest appearances from, among others, B.o.B,

, Joe Budden,

, and Maino. The album was supported by the singles "House Slippers" and "Music Saved My Life". In early 2019, before the release of his ''Monday'' album, Ortiz was featured in the song "Revenge" (along with fellow

member

) on Cryptik Soul’s album ''Killer's Blood''. Among the other artists on whose songs he has appeared as a featured guest are Brother Ali, Mega Ran, Mr. Capone-E, Playboy Tre and Chan Hays.

Controversy

Following the release of his 2011 song " Big Pun Back", Ortiz received criticism from Liza Rios (Pun's widow), along with former Terror Squad members Cuban Link and Tony Sunshine, claiming that the song was "disrespectful" to the late rapper's memory. Ortiz claims the song was meant to be a tribute, and later, rapper and friend of Big Pun

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

spoke up in his defense.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' The Brick: Bodega Chronicles'' (2007) * '' Free Agent'' (2011) * ''

'' (2014) * ''That's Hip Hop'' (2016) * ''Monday'' (2019) * ''Autograph'' (2021)

Collaborative albums

* ''

'' (2009) * '' Welcome to: Our House'' (2012) * '' Human'' (2015) * ''Mona Lisa'' (2018) * ''Gorilla Glue'' (2019) * ''H.A.R.D.'' (2020) * '' Rise & Fall of Slaughterhouse'' (2022) * ''Harbor City Season One'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Joell Aftermath Entertainment artists American people of Puerto Rican descent East Coast hip hop musicians Puerto Rican rappers Living people Rappers from Brooklyn Slaughterhouse (group) members Underground rappers 1980 births 20th-century American rappers 21st-century American rappers Puerto Rican hip hop musicians