Hip Hop Unity

Hip hop has long had supergroups, from NWA onwards. But the Wu-Tang Clan created a new franchise model, its members subsequently launching solo careers. Ironically, these eventually split the group. Detroit's Royce Da 5'9", Jersey City's Joe Budden, Brooklyn's Joell Ortiz and Long Beach's Crooked I were all veteran indie MCs, with their own stories of misfortune, struggle and label setbacks, when they came together as Slaughterhouse. Now they're signed to Shady Records, with 2012's blockbuster second album welcome to: OUR HOUSE (executive produced by Eminem himself) reaching No. 2 in the US charts. There's even a pop single, My Life, featuring Cee Lo Green (and borrowing from Corona's '90s Italo-house anthem The Rhythm Of The Night). Some reinvention. Slaughterhouse are bigger than Odd Future. Next the underdog posse will tour Australia.

The democracy that exists in Slaughterhouse is such that all four have determined to conduct phone interviews together. It's potentially chaotic, and confusing, especially when each MC is on a different line. Nevertheless, they strive to make it work, sounding friendly yet businesslike (noteworthy considering Budden's past descriptions of their studio craziness). In the end, one MC is absent, and another merely listens, leaving Crooked I (AKA Dominick Wickliffe) and Ortiz to rep. Of the collective, only Royce (Ryan Montgomery) has hit Australia before but, Ortiz says, he's told them that "it's ridiculous as far as energy goes."

Slaughterhouse formed in exceptional circumstances. Budden - who premiered with 2003's self-titled album (home to Pump It Up) on Def Jam, then quit over creative differences - and Montgomery battled, in the process becoming mutual admirers. Budden conceived a posse-cut, Slaughterhouse, with Montgomery, Wickliffe and Ortiz (plus a now MIA Nino Bless), for his 2008 digital LP Halfway House. And so Slaughterhouse's conception was grassroots. Buoyed by fans' response, they'd lay down 2009's eponymous album for E1 Music (formerly Koch). The label gave them an absurd six days to do it. Slaughterhouse secured beats from Eminem's cohort Mr Porter (AKA D12's Kon Artis). In the interim, Montgomery quashed an old beef with D12 and resurrected his partnership with Shady, Bad Meets Evil, for 2011's mini-album Hell: The Sequel. Slaughterhouse cameo-ed on this, as they did a Recovery bonus track.

Welcome..., recorded in more leisurely conditions than its predecessor, boasts input from what Wickliffe accurately calls an "all-star line-up of producers" - with Brit Alex Da Kid (responsible for Eminem's mega-hit Love The Way You Lie with Rihanna), No ID, Kanye West's protégé Hit-Boy, and Drake's homie T-Minus. Gangsta trancer AraabMuzik helmed the neo horrorcore Hammer Dance. (Alas, the Aussie M-Phazes, who contributed to an earlier EP, didn't return.) "We just kinda vibed out with people," Wickliffe reveals. "We did a lot of the recording in Em's studio in Detroit and then Mr Porter's studio. Producers would come in and we would just vibe out and play beats, play music, things that we were feeling - so, if the music was talking to us, we'd go in the booth and talk back. It wasn't really like we just sat around and said, Well, hey, let's get this guy, this guy, that guy." The success of Welcome... has been validating. "It's just a beautiful thing," Wickliffe croons. "To see it all come to fruition and come to the shelf and see the fans receive it like that, it just meant everything to us - and I think I could say that for the [other] guys, too."

Slaughterhouse are breaking ground. Such a pan-American enterprise would have been virtually impossible in the '90s hip hop world, Ice Cube's Westside Connection (whose first cut was, not coincidentally, entitled Westside Slaughterhouse) causing much provocation. The Californian Wickliffe, once affiliated with Death Row, agrees that there was "a lotta people beefing over stupid shit like what city you're from or what coast you're from." Yet hip hop regionalism has since become less political – and less rigid. Harlem's A$AP Rocky freely mines Southern rap. "That's why I always think just us forming this group is a symbol in hip hop of unity." Slaughterhouse have also brought hardcore rap back into the charts, challenging the ubiquity of Ibiza electro-hop. Not that the game changers rise to the bait of that topic. They're diplomats. Still, Ortiz will say something. "If you look around, things are changing, man. I mean, dudes are taking pride in trying to rhyme right now – like the next generation is actually saying something... I think that Slaughterhouse is one of the pioneers of bringing that back - and I'm happy to be a part of that." Among those 'new' MCs is Kendrick Lamar's Los Angeles homeboy ScHoolboy Q, who dropped out of supporting Slaughterhouse in Oz "due to recording commitments".

The Slaughterhousers, hip hop their lifestyle, aren't neglecting their individual careers. "When we were concentrating on the Slaughterhouse project, that's what we all were concentrating on," Ortiz says. "We all wanted to bring everything to the table as far as that went. We devoted all our energy, all our ideas and all the music towards that project, making that project the best it could be. When that project went out, we supported it and did everything we could to promote it - as far as shows, as far as touring and everything. Then, that rollercoaster ride came down, and now we're back on our rollercoaster ride as far as solo artists - but," he emphasises, "also working on the next album." Indeed, Slaughterhouse is a support group. They really are "brothers". This month Budden presented the R&B-geared No Love Lost, with the Slaughterhousers guesting, and Ortiz dutifully talks it up. And doors have opened to the MCs. Ortiz, once sidelined by Dr Dre's notoriously idle Aftermath Entertainment, has inked a deal with Shady as a solo act. 

Though Slaughterhouse allude to another album, they won't divulge any details. But perhaps they'll cameo on Eminem's comeback - or even his mentor Dre's mythical Detox. What can - or will - they say? "I'll tell you one thing," Wickliffe laughs. "I believe in universal law, and I believe in the law of attraction, so I will say this: If Detox does come out and Dr Dre is reading this interview somehow, put Crooked I on that damn project, man. Put Slaughterhouse on that motherfuckin' project - please! I just wanna be a part of it. I'm putting that shit in the universe - fuck that. I think Dr Dre is dope."

The Slaughterhouse members continue to hustle, DIY-style. "I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit," says Wickliffe, who has his own music empire, developing both rap and R&B acts, a T-shirt company, and a new computer company. "I'm really inspired by people like Jay-Z and Puff [Daddy] who did business as well as make music. I've been inspired by Russell Simmons since I was a kid." Ortiz recently made his acting debut in a series for Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen network. "I just think sometimes in my music, you don't get the personality of Joell all the way. Everybody who is around me knows I'm a character - I just like to make people laugh, I was a class clown and things of that nature. So I wanna get in front of the camera, check out theatre a little bit, maybe really take this acting thing seriously and see what that's about."

Slaughterhouse will be playing the following dates:

Saturday 23 February - Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW
Wednesday 27 February - Arena, Brisbane QLD
Friday 1 March - Palace Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 2 March - Metro City, Perth WA