Over the last few weeks, New York rappers have given us some of the best new albums of the year. Last week, Roc Marciano dropped his third project of the year. Earlier this month, Dave East and Styles P dropped their joint project. This year, New York icons like Nas and Jay-Z have also dropped new projects. This week, Joell Ortiz dropped his new project with Apollo Brown.
The new Ortiz project features twelve new tracks completely produced by Apollo Brown. On the album, Ortiz limits the amount of features, but allows for contributions from his former Slaughterhouse brothers, KXNG Crooked and Royce Da 5’9, on “Timberlan’d Up”. Outside of the features, fans will find Ortiz rapping at his best while also being introspective at certain points. On tracks like “Reflection”, Ortiz digs deep into some of the recent moments of tension between Slaughterhouse and Shady Records affiliates. On the song, Ortiz raps, “Took a sec for me to accept that next time I’m on the road/Won’t be no Crook, won’t be no Royce, won’t be no Joe.” Other songs like “Timberlan’d Up” feature the New York native rhyming at the highest level alongside some of the best lyricists in Hip-Hop today. Overall, the project delivers a little bit of everything. Stream the entire project above and let us know what you think.
