set me free
daily dos
mon 12/21/2009
Listen to Joell Ortiz' new banger, Line 'Em Up, with Cory Gunz.
knit wit
daily dos
fri 12/19/2008
Listen to Joell Ortiz do it till the break of dawn on a new leaked track, "Morning."
ella me levantó
daily dos
tue 9/9/2008
Joell Ortiz remembers the days of his youth in a new video, "Memories." (via XXL)
y'all got to feel me
daily dos
mon 6/16/2008
Listen to "Summertime in Brooklyn," a new track by Joell Ortiz.
who owes who
daily dos
thu 1/3/2008
Joell Ortiz raps about the "Ups and Downs" of life in his new video. (via Real Talk NY
game recognize game
daily dos
wed 10/17/2007
Joell Ortiz wears his heart on his sleeve in a new video, "125 Part 4 (Finale)." (via Nah Right)
Maroon 5, Paris Bennett, Joell Ortiz, Jarabe de Palo and The Horrors.
the music press
tue 5/22/2007
- L.A. pop darlings Maroon 5 avoid the sophomore slump with It Won’t Be Soon Before Long. Billboard.com gushes over "12 potential hits" that are "unified by Levine's invaluable voice, which croons rock and belts soul with a clean pop finish.” Rolling Stone hedges with "there's nothing as rhythmically profound as [Justin Timberlake's] 'My Love' here. But there's more meaty-beaty dynamite."
- American Idol contestant Paris Bennett releases her debut album, Princess P and Entertainment Weekly kinda sorta likes the 18-year-old R&B singer’s collection of club tracks noting “what gives these sub-Ciara songs their kick is Paris’ full-throated delivery.” Minnesota's The Star Tribune is a little less polite: “she’s pretty good at R&B, pop, gospel and hip-hop but not really great at any of them.”
- Recently-signed Dr. Dre protégé Joell Ortiz drops his pre-Aftermath album, The Brick: Bodega Chronicles to rave reviews. “There is rarely a dull moment on this LP,” which is full of “banging beats, tactically placed features and superb lyricism,” according to Format Magazine. The always influential XXL magazine underscores Ortiz’ penchant for OD’ing on his own flow but confidently argues that with "a little direction from good ol’ Dr. Dre, Mr. Ortiz can be more than a player who just rhymes a lot.”
- Spanish rockers Jarabe de Palo's sixth album Adelantando “rocks harder than previous efforts, but it still contains the latin pop fusion that has always defined their style,” declares ABC.es. España's Tiramillas.net suggests that the new album sounds “fresh and direct … thanks to the band’s years of playing and touring.”
- Strange House, the major-label debut by English neo-goths The Horrors is "a failure,” according to Stylus Magazine. Meanwhile, The Onion's A.V. Club gives the band's dark psychobilly lots of love, claiming that “the album delivers on more than just shock value.”
Joell Ortiz
whodat
thu 5/17/2007
When Dr. Dre hears your mixtape, calls you at home and asks if you'd like to meet, you do two things: you say "hell yeah" and hop on the first flight to California. That's precisely what 26-year-old Brooklyn MC Joell Ortiz did. Two days after meeting the West Coast legend, he returned to his native New York as the first Latino rapper signed to Dre's Aftermath Entertainment imprint. Although the heavy-set lyricist's razor-sharp delivery and full-bodied flow have earned him comparisons to fellow Boricua Big Pun, hardcore fans are heaping even greater praise on Ortiz: he's being touted as the MC who can bring that long-lost New York swagger back to mainstream hip hop.
The six-foot-two Ortiz claims he was a high school basketball star with a jaw-dropping SAT score of 1400 when he decided to turn his part-time music hobby into a full-time career. Despite receiving academic and athletic scholarship offers from various colleges, Ortiz would decide to stay home, to both work on his rhymes and take care of his drug-addicted mother. Magazines like The Source and XXL began to take notice of his blue-collar hustle. A victory in the 2004 EA Sports Battle secured his song "Mean Business" a place on video game NBA Live 2005 and record contract with rapper-producer Jermaine Dupri. In a bizarre twist, that contract fell through when the So So Def label head reneged on the deal – according to Ortiz, because the label didn't think it could market a chubby Puerto Rican.
Instead, the occasional street hustler and self-proclaimed "voice of the underdogs" released a well-recieved mixtape, Who the F**k is Joell Ortiz, which eventually found its way to the hands of Dr. Dre's assistant. The good doctor, who provided a shot in the arm to the careers of Eminem and 50 Cent, was instantly impressed, flying Ortiz out to Los Angeles. After a 10 minute meeting, Dre offered Ortiz a two-album contract. Ortiz, however, had already agreed to put out an album with the indie label Koch. Where another artist might have broken his word, Ortiz took the high road.
Last month, Ortiz released The Brick: Bodega Chronicles. The album features guest appearances from La Bruja, Akon, Ras Kass, Big Daddy Kane and The Alchemist as well as Ortiz' own rugged, self-effacing, realer-than-most rhymes. With his mother now clean and sober, a legendary producer in his corner and a new gym membership, the confident yet humble Ortiz could well become the next king of hip hop.
Nosoylatino Says:
