Joell Ortiz hasn’t released a solo album since 2011′s Free Agent. He’s put out some freestyles as well as work with Slaughterhouse in the time since, but he knows that his fans are both itching for more solo work and wondering when they’d hear it.
On “House Slippers,” the lead release from his upcoming album of the same name, the Brooklyn native begins to fill in the blanks.
“For those who’ve been wondering what’s going on with Joell Ortiz, it’s a lot, man,” he says to open song, which he recently dropped along with a new video.
Joell then uses the next three minutes of !llmind’s beat to get deeply personal, opening up about struggles and successes of the last few years.
In one of a number of quotables, One Quarter of the Slaughter reflects on battling weight issues and the non-music side of his profession as a musician: “Shaking the hand that’s feeding you, but you hate it/ Disappointed in meetings cause of your weight/ Just imagine this man with your career in his hands/ Giving a f–k about your fans/ He just looking at that black and white/ Seeing you ain’t sell too well/ You trying to tell him that you was on an indie that wasn’t acting right.”
Things have turned though. “Feels like I finally found my house slippers,” he raps to both open and close the track, suggesting a level of comfort with where he’s at — something visually reflected in his lounging at home throughout the video.
“I’m just tryna rap my ass off,” Ortiz spits at one point.
Mission accomplished, sir.
House Slippers is set to drop September.
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