#h.a.r.d.

New review is up on YouTube! This one goes up to 11 LUL XD

New Tunes I Dig video is up!

Royce Da 5′9″ rapped “If that day should come that we should ever part ways / It'll just be an excuse for us to reunite at Coachella” on SayDatThen, off House Rules, a mixtape by Slaughterhouse that was supposed to be the prelude to their 3rd album, Glass House which didn’t end up coming out because the group disbanded. It’s a big shame because I was a huge Slaughterhouse fan when they were active as a group and I’m a fan of all 4 members as solo artists as well. What’s so crazy about the time that has passed is that all 4 members started putting out their best works since the last Slaughterhouse release so if they reunited, just imagine how great it would be. Anyway, the announcement of Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked collab project surprised the shit out of me similar to the way the Slaughterhouse-minus Joe Budden reunion happened on I Will from Eminem’s latest album. KXNG Crooked had a very productive 2019 with the revival of his legendary Weeklys series. He also started Crook’s Corner, a really dope webseries where he has interviewed legends such as Rakim, Black Thought and Eminem. Joell Ortiz is coming off of a winning streak of some of the best albums of his career including Mona Lisa and Monday. Mona Lisa was fully produced by Apollo Brown, who produced Catchin Bodies off this new EP. Apollo Brown also produced two songs on Monday, as did Heatmakerz and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League who produced a handful of the tracks on H.A.R.D. as well. Other producers on H.A.R.D. include Erick Sermon and !llmind, who Ortiz did an album with in 2015. H.A.R.D. stands for Housing Authority Rap District but this EP goes super hard. The way it starts is so amazing. Before the drums even come in, KXNG Crooked does something I don’t think I’ve heard a rapper do ever which is rap around the producer tag and use it in the lyrics. That’s such a genius yet simple thing to do that I’m amazed that no one prior had come up with (to my knowledge). Things like this are what set Crooked and Joell apart from a lot of their “lyrical rap” peers. The beat produced by Heatmakerz is perfect too. I’ve criticized both Crooked and Joell’s earlier albums because of the beats they picked and I love now at this stage in their careers, they are picking better beats, which make for better songs which make their albums that much more enjoyable. Both Crooked and Joell are super creative when it comes to dope schemes. Crooked had a jazz line where he said, ““Execs never act alone, take turns butt-fucking their artist with a saxophone / Damn that's a cold train.” Joell had a dope scheme about magazines of guns and reading magazines where he said “Give you this whole magazine, until you sick with the lord / You know the vibes, XXL shells hittin' the source.” Probably my favorite scheme on the whole project is Joell’s Star Wars scheme where he said “ “Lay your princess in the sky like she Luke partner / One hand solo out the window, here’s something for you to Chewbacca.” What I love is that they don’t just bar us to death, they give us some content to and tell some stories. We also get solo songs from each of them about Long Beach where Crook is from and Brooklyn where Joell is from on Caddy Bump (LBC) and Wolves (BKLYN). Dope bars are to be expected when you listen to Joell and Crooked and I’m gonna finish this review by dropping some of my favorite punchlines from this EP:

“Bitches know, they wave when I smash past / Try to flag me down like the Star-Spangle at half-mast.”

“I got on my grizzly then go get the honey / Wanted more than the bare necessities”

“Got the amphetamines from a Blood / That's red and meth”

“I hold the stick high like I'm conducting a symphony”

“See some artist request love, I just blacken my thoughts”

“I rap circles around him like a basketball for Christmas”

H.A.R.D. Streams H.A.R.D. Credits 1 H.A.R.D.Joell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked, MRK SX Producer Heatmakerz Featured Artist MRK SX 2 Get Ya MoneyJoell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked Producer Boogeyman Erick Sermon 3 Caddy Bump (LBC)Joell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked Producer Illmind 4 Catchin’ BodiesJoell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked Producer Apollo Brown 5 Lose My MindJoell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked, Blakk Soul […]

The post Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked – H.A.R.D. Credits and Streams appeared first on [istandard].