Joell Ortiz's street cred being certified since being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March '04 Souce magazine and selected as Chairman's Choice in XXL Magazine. Joell Ortiz continues to storm his audience with lyric driven tracks, often trading gimmicky choruses and R&B flows for that rough mid 1980's hip hop sound.
The Brick walks you through a few situations of a hungry emcee, opening with "125, Pt. 1 (The Bio)" in which Joell flows non-stop for over five minutes without taking a single break, you begin to see that this album is different from those populating the game at the moment. Joell Ortiz hits the listener with lyrics like:
Kane spit on his B.K Remix take that
The kid is co-signed by the dudes who made rap
Face facts G-Rap told mike he got a problem on his hands
Mike is Joell's A & R just so y'all understand
KRS responded with one word "damn"
The cypher is complete once he shake Rakim hand
referring to Big Daddy Kane, Kool G. Rap and Rakim, arguably three of the greatest lyricists of all time.
The song in the second spot is "Brooklyn Remix", with the (Brooklyn) chant adding to the winding beat as Joell, Cashmere, Maino and veteran Big Daddy Kane represent the borough. Next, Joell goes into the struggles of growing up in the projects with "Caught Up" and "Night In My P's", but Joell doesn't paint a glamorous picture, choosing to speak about the dangers and bleakness of his situation.
The second of four 125 entries "Fresh Air", picks up where the first left off, with another five minutes of fire. "Hip Hop" warns you in the intro:
accidentally step on your white sunglasses, we dont wear those over here, this is hip hop. This is Carhartt jackets, Timberland boots unlaced. This is champion hoodies, chicken wings and french fries, R.I.P. pieces on the handball court. This is us still fighting police brutality..This is hip hop
after that intro Joell tells you how much he loves hip hop when it was done for the love as opposed to being done as a business. On "Modern Day Slavery", Joell and Immortal Technique speak on inequalities of the prison system.
The rest of the album is filled with 8 songs (5 that have guests) that could have been worked on a little more, as they seem rushed, with the exception being the pride filled "Latino" Joell has to realize that by sharing the microphone, he tones down the hunger in his lyrics. The Brick has its share of "adult" language, but this is consistently done in a creative context, as Joell Ortiz doesn't sound like a character from a hood "shoot 'em up" movie.
Joell is trapped in the rap music business, as he clearly is a talented lyricist, but in the time when ring tone, heavy chorus, and snap rap seem to populate the charts, he may find it difficult to exist. Hopefully Joell sticks it out and people give the lyrics a listen.
PLAYLIST
- "125 Part 1 (The Bio), produced by Moss
- "Brooklyn Remix", produced by JPAZ, featuring Cashmere, Maino, Solomon and Big Daddy Kane
- "Caught Up", produced by DJ EMZ
- "Night In My P's", produced by Ax The Bull, featuring Big Noyd
- "125 Part 2 (Fresh Air)", produced by Frank Dukes
- "Hip Hop", produced by Hecks
- "Modern Day Slavery", produced by Jonyfraze, featuring Immortal technique
- "125 Part 3 (Connections)", produced by Frank Dukes, featuring Ras Kass, Stimuli, Graph, and Gab Gotcha
- "BQE", produced by The Alchemist, featuring Lord Black
- "Block Royal", produced by Prince And Machavelli
- "Latino", produced by The Mighty V.I.C., featuring La Bruja
- "Keep On Callin", produced by P-Money, featuring Akon
- "Time Is Money", produced by Street Radio, featuring Styles P.
- "Brooklyn Bull---T", produced by Showbiz
- "125 Part 4 (Finale)", produced by Frank Dukes
125 Part 1 Video
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