Published: Tuesday - May 29, 2007
Words by David Lopez
Joell Ortiz (Photo: Koch Records)
So many rappers lack an ounce of the work ethic that Brooklyn's Joell Ortiz possesses. He might have been turned down by countless labels, but he kept working and kept knocking on the doors until someone answered. Perhaps labels thought he was too fat, maybe they thought he would be hard to market as a Hispanic rapper with a last name like Ortiz, but perhaps they were all wrong.
Enter West Coast super producer Dr. Dre, responsible for launching the careers of Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, and The Game. Dre saw what others didn't see. He saw the raw talent he could mold into another successful protégé and scooped up Ortiz to his Aftermath roster, which is exactly what he did when he flew Ortiz to California to meet him face to face. "He wanted to make sure I wasn't a knuckle head," says Ortiz." Ortiz left California knowing that Dre had welcomed him into the Aftermath family, an all-star label with a historic track record. However he had an independent album that he had pretty much completed and wanted to release called The Brick: Bodega Chronicles on Koch Records. At first Dre was reluctant to letting Ortiz release the LP, until he heard it, which is when he gave Ortiz his blessing the next day, saying it was a hot album and could only help the buzz for his Aftermath release.
The Brick: Bodega Chronicles is out now, and from what Ortiz is saying, it is going to be the building block to a stellar career.
BallerStatus.com: You named the mixtape that helped get you signed by Dr. Dre Who The Fuck Is Joell Ortiz? Please answer that question.
Joell Ortiz: Joell Ortiz is a Puerto Rican cat from Brooklyn that got a real hip-hop album out called The Brick: Bodega Chronicles. Pretty much, he's going to paint a picture of what happens in front of a bodega -- what you see, what you might hear, and people you might encounter. At the same time, he's going to do it in a hip-hop way. You gonna get that feeling -- that head nod music, that old feeling that ain't hear no more. I don't make the dancy records; I make hip-hop.
BallerStatus.com: What producers do you have on it?
Joell Ortiz: I got The Alchemist, DJ Premier,Showbiz, Domingo, my dude Frank Dukes from Europe... I wanted to bring it back.
BallerStatus.com: A lot of dope producers, but what about Dr. Dre? Everybody knows your signed to his label Aftermath, why didn't he contribute a beat to the record?
Joell Ortiz: Oh, because I already had the album damn near done, there's probably like two more tracks that I needed to do. I didn't want to shy away from what I was already doing. I had made a couple of promises to a couple of people about them making the album and them doing beats on the album. So, the Dre thing is going to be the Dre thing and the Koch thing is going to be the Koch thing and that's pretty much the way I want to keep it. I'm pretty sure if I asked him, it would be no problem, that's my dude. But I wanted to keep it going with the same feeling, so I figured I keep my pioneers, the early New York hip-hop producers. I just didn't want to shy away from the feeling, so that's why you might not hear a Dre joint on there.
BallerStatus.com: Where you signed to Koch first or Aftermath?
Joell Ortiz: Actually, we we're talking to Koch first, nothing was solid. Dre's assistant Kennith got my demo during the talks. Dre took a liking to it, and flew us out. I had dinner with his staff and met him the next day in the studio and he was like, "Yo I love the record dude." I was like, "Yo man I love the beats." And you know, we started laughing, chopping it up and sh--, and he was like "I flew you out to make sure you wasn't a knucklehead, an ignorant kid or whatever." I was like "Dude, that's not me, I'm an honest guy." Dre was like "Cause I took a lot of losses in music already. Some close friends are gone over nonsense." I told him "That's not me, that's not my speed... I'm here to make great records and who better to do with than you." Dre was like, "With that said have your people call my people, let's get it popping, welcome to Aftermath."
So to answer your question, it was all in talks. I don't know the day to day, who made it pop first. But I do know that at first, Dre was like, "We at (Aftermath) don't really be doing the independent albums in between the major" until he heard The Brick. We emailed him the joint and he called me that very next morning and was like, "Go head man, that joint is ridiculous." He was like, "Put it out, get your money, make it pop... that can only help our (Aftermath's) album."
BallerStatus.com: Why would you name your debut The Brick?
Joell Ortiz: Well, I have eight songs on there that are 125 bars. And if you from the streets you know that a brick is a 1,000 of those things. I put a 1,000 bars on wax because I wanted to raise the standards. For so many years, it's been like that was a hot 16 (bars). Well I'm doing 125. You have set your self apart from everybody that's about to do it, so I been doing 125, and it's hard to keep people's interest for five and half minutes. So if I could keep people interested for five and half minutes, then I think I'm something special. I'm something to look out for.
BallerStatus.com: I noticed you got a lot of New York artists on the album including M.O.P, Big Daddy, Kane, Maino, and Grafh...
Joell Ortiz: Yeah could say that it's real New York based, but I do have Ras Kass (California) on a Joint and Akon (Senegal) is on the album as well.
BallerStatus.com: What's going to be the track on the album that's going to get you those radio spins and that's going to pop in the clubs?
Joell Ortiz: You know what dude, right now I got a joint called "Hip-Hop," (his lead single off The Brick), it's getting love. The spins are climbing. I open it with "I ain't trying to bring New York back, I'm just a breath of fresh air, that old New York rap." And people is relating to it man, on some real sh--. Joell Ortiz records that will make the club or make the airwaves won't be directed to the clubs or to the airwaves. They'll just be like it was back in the days -- you would hear a record, put in your bag, and then play it later on because it's hot. Not cause it was pushed or because I say "Yo grab your drinks and lets buy bottles and models and pop and models will drop," you know what I'm saying? It's just because that sh-- is hard. Those are the kind of records I make. Whatever poppin' is something that the DJs become a fan of.
BallerStatus.com: You sound happy about the album?
Joell Ortiz: I'm excited. I got two deals when people told me I couldn't get one. It's all hard work and grind.
BallerStatus.com: This is your debut. New York Rappers like Nas with Illmatic and Jay-Z with Reasonable Doubt and Biggie with Ready to Die released arguably their best material at their debuts, are you hoping to do the same?
Joell Ortiz: I'm trying to make this one my baby too, just like they got they baby. I want this one to be mine.
BallerStatus.com: That's when they was all coming up and weren't rich and famous yet...
Joell Ortiz: You going to get all the emotion, you going to get the most feeling on this album dude. No matter how many times people say, "I'm gonna keep it right here (boom, boom, boom)," the simple fact is that when you get guap, I'm going to see things that I've never seen in my life dude. So as a real n----, it's going to be hard. I'm going to try my best to keep it based staff. I ain't going to ever sell out, but everybody says that like n----s is mad at Jay now because what's he talking about. Like what can dude talk about right now? The nigga touched everything he could possibly touch. He's still trying to give ya'll joints, don't be mad at that. For how many summers, how many years has dun gave us the hoodiest anthems? He's a grown ass man right now. Joell Ortiz is here to give you that feeling that he used to give you, that Nas used to give you back then. I'm going to give you those feelings again man. Those are the dudes I listen to -- dudes like Jay, like Nas, like Big, like the early Lox. I'm here to bring like when we first heard them. I'm here to bring that back.
BallerStatus.com: Man, I met you a while back in Brooklyn, but I never knew how serious your struggle and grind was until I read your HipHopGame.com journals about your experiences.
Joell Ortiz: You know what it is, a lot of rappers are scared to be themselves. They feel that when the lights come on, they got to turn in to somebody else. I'm always Joell Ortiz, that's why I don't have a stage name. I'm always the same guy, when the lights are on and when the lights are off. The same guy that's back stage is the same guy that's on stage. The same guy in the interviews is the same guy in the show. So I was like, "I could do this Journal sh--, because I'm a real n----." A lot of people like, "he's a rapper, but he's doing a journal." No n----, it's because I'm a fan of hip-hop music with a deal, that's all I am. Don't get it twisted. This rapper thing is an illusion, it's a word. I'm fan that got a deal. I'm an MC.
BallerStatus.com: How often you updated that journal?
Joell Ortiz: As much as I could get to it, because like I said I was really grinding. If there wasn't I day I wasn't going hard, when I wasn't locked up doing something whether it be a studio session or a show out of town, a couple of radio shows or 150 drops for these DJs, features on somebody's mixtapes... I was doing so much. I had to sum up everything I was doing in one breath even doing the journal. And I want to let dudes know, because people have this misconception that rappers just make hot songs and then they get money and it's so not that. It's probably harder than anybody's 9 to 5. So I had to let people know what was going on and why if it did happen for me, why I deserved it. I was hurting when I was writing those journals, like hurting, no money, 'cause you can't have a gig. That's not nothing I wouldn't be proud of. I was hurting.
BallerStatus.com: You still in Brooklyn?
Joell Ortiz: Yeah, I'm in Brooklyn. I moved to Bushwick. I'm out the projects. I got my own two bedroom, nothing fancy. Still keeping it grounded 'cause I still want to write them records.
BallerStatus.com: I thought that Aftermath contract you signed would have had you relocating to the suburbs.
Joell Ortiz: (Laughs) Nah man, the burbs is in the future. Right now, I can't lose the feeling. I'm in my zone.
BallerStatus.com: You want to stay in touch with the streets?
Joell Ortiz: Even when I do move out to the 'burbs, I'm gonna frequently be in the city. It don't matter, that's just will be where I rest my head. When I take my shower and put my clothes on, and head out, I heading back out to where it's at.
This article was written by David Lopez, a freelance writer (with various credits) and publisher of his own blog, Entertainment On Fire.
Features Slim (of 112): Hi Haters What else do you want from Slim? His prolific group 112 has sold over 20 million records worldwide, and with a bevy ... full story
Beyond Hip-Hop Game Review: Far Cry 2 Gone are Jack Carver, his Hawaiian shirt, and the trigens from the first installment of "Far Cry," but in comes spine ... full story
Digg It
Del.icio.us
