Who You Should Be Listening To: Slaughterhouse

It’s hard to not get excited when you hear who makes up this group. If you don’t recognize the gentleman above they are: (from left to right) Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Royce da 5′9″, and Crooked I.

The first time I hard one of their songs I was surprised to hear a group where each rapper absolutely destroyed his verse. Usually there’s an identifiable weak-link in rap/hip-hop groups, but that’s not the case with Slaughterhouse. Each one of these guys was making nice music before teaming up and now that they’re together, shit is ridiculous.

Needless to say, they’ve got their first single “The One” dropping sometime soon (although it’s already leaked online, of course). If you haven’t heard it already, check out the video below. If you have heard it, then you love it and you’re gonna peep this shit regardless.

Yeah, they’re good. Hit the jump to check out some of their solo tracks.

I’ve been a Royce fan since I first heard him killing it with Eminem on “Bad Meets Evil” and as good as he was on that track he’s only gotten better. Some of the hardest spits I’ve heard recently have been on Royce’s solo tracks and after checking out his verse on “The One” you’ve got no excuse not to listen to some of his other work. “Slaughter” by Royce da 5′9″ is one of the illest tracks I’ve heard in 2009.

Late last year I started getting into Crooked I and since he has yet to disappoint me. One of the easiest ways for an up-and-coming artist to get noticed is to begin dropping freestyles over other artists’ singles left and right. Crooked I slaughtered (haha, pun intended) “Stronger” and “A Millie” last year and has more than proven himself. Check out either one of those tracks from his mixtape The Block Obama to get a nice feel for his solo flow.

Before this group appeared I only listened to Budden and Ortiz sparingly, but that changed the moment I heard my first Slaughterhouse track. While I still don’t have much of their solo stuff I’ve got plenty of tracks the two are featured on including “Move On” which starts off with Ortiz and ends with Budden.

There you have it.

Check stores on August 11th to pick up Slaughterhouse’s first album featuring “The One” or you could check out the internet a few days prior to that because odds are that the album will have leaked before then.