"I Can See the Vision in that..."


Royce and Budden squashed the beef! Yeah at this point it’s old news, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t any less exciting. On top of putting aside their differences, they got in the lab together – hopefully we will get to hear that soon!

But in the meantime Budden has a mixtape out in preparation for his official sophomore project. The Halfway House hasn’t made it’s way into my rotation just yet, but given the strength of “Slaughterhouse” I think it will be in the iTunes before the end of the day.

Joell Ortiz, Nino Bless, Crooked I, Royce Da 5'9" & Joe Budden "Slaughterhouse"


Posse cuts are the holy grail in Hip Hop – they aren’t common, but not completely rare either. Given that they have to include a number of emcees the tracks are almost always longer than your average song and it’s hard to get together a group of emcees who can all carry their own, far too often a week link comes along diverting your attention away from the song before it’s finished. Luckily even the least known here holds his own next to some of the strongest spitters out.

But while the posse cut’s come and go, Hip Hopers are even less likely to be treated to group projects from already established artists. We all have dream collaborations we would like to see happen, but never before have a group of rappers discussed and seemed more serious about putting something out they Budden, Joell, Royce and perhaps Crooked (He isn’t present in the videos, but they do say they have to get him on the line to discuss the proposition).



Seeing them deliver “Slaughterhouse” without any notice was the first hint. But over the last few days Jumpoff has been getting his director game on filming the antics that he, Royce & Ortiz have been up to in the lab. While more Patron has been consumed in these videos than is healthy the liquid courage only seems to inspire these guys to come harder at each other. But it’s all in the spirit of friendly competition.

At one point Joell breaks down what he envisions as them all just trying to one up each other, coming in, cutting one another off just getting real grimy seeing who can spit the hardest. It sounds like it could be that dope shit, and when Royce screamed out “I can see the vision in that” you know was ready. Budden too, from behind the camera, is obviously digging the concept and emphasizes that he wants to cut Royce off just as he is about to drop the illest punchline his fans will (then) never hear.


"I feel like we should have a record where we're all just throwing bars at eachother."

This could be amazing.

But just like the much talked about Nas/Premier album or the Dre/Timbaland record (anyone remember those rumors?) who knows if this will ever materialize into a tangible product. These video clips have served Budden well in exposing what he is up to and they have obviously been laying down tracks – but if they truly do follow thru and throw a dart at a map to lock themselves away for three weeks? It’ll be a problem.

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