Joell Ortiz: Nothing Short Of Awesome Lately

Words By David Lopez

So many rappers lack an ounce of the work ethic that Brooklyn’s Joell Ortiz has, he was turned down by countless labels, but he kept working, he kept knocking on the doors until he got what he deserved. 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, now he's proving them all wrong.

Enter legendary west coast producer Dr.Dre, responsible for launching the careers of Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, and The Game. Dre saw what others failed to see, he saw the raw talent that he could mold into another one of his successful proteges and scooped up Ortiz to his Aftermath roster. But not before he flew Ortiz to California to meet him face to face. “ He wanted to make sure I was not 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. Dre 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 will be released April 24th, on Koch Records. And from what Ortiz is saying the Brick is going to be the building block to a dope career.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: You named the mixtape that helped get you signed by Dr.Dre Who The F*ck Is Joell Ortiz? Please answer the question you posed as the mixtape title.

Joell Ortiz: Joell Ortiz, is a Puerto Rican cat from Brooklyn that got a real hip hop album coming out on April 24th, 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, people you might encounter and 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 here no more. I don't make the dancy records, I make hip-hop.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: What producers do you have on The Brick: Bodega Chronicles?

Joell Ortiz: I got The Alchemist, DJ Premier,Showbiz, Domingo, my dude Frank Dukes from Europe I wanted to bring it back.

EntertainmentOnFire.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, ( Dr.Dre)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.

EntertainmentOnFire.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," and I was like yo man I love the beats. And you know, we started laughing, chopping it up and sh*t 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.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: Why would you name your debut The Brick?

Joell Ortiz: Well, I have 8 songs on there that are 125 bars. And if you from the streets you know that a brick is a 1,000 grams of those things. I put a 1,000 bars on wax because I wanted to raise the standards. For so many years, its 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.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: I noticed you got a lot of New York artists on the album including M.O.P, Big Daddy, Kane,Maino,and Graph.

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.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: Dope, you got New York rappers over some gritty New York beats, sounds like a great concoction. Is the track " Modern Day Slavery," featuring Immortal Technique on The Brick?

Joell Ortiz: Of Course that's on The Brick, That's "Modern Day Slavery," my dude Immortal is for real. I had to reach out to some real n*ggas for Hip Hop like let's go man. Immortal, I bumped heads with that dude so many times at all these underground venues that it only made sense, like i wouldn't be a real dude if i didn't reach out to him.

EntertainmentOnFire.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 shit 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 shit is hard, those are the kind of records I make. Whatever popping is something that the DJ's become a fan of.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: What about the Track with Akon " Keep On Calling,", is that like a possible single, something that could pop on the radio in the clubs?

Joell Ortiz:I mean who knows what the future may bring but the record I did with Akon is gritty,( Laughs for a moment) he got that melodic voice so they just might do it for the simple fact that he's a name. But I didn't reach out to him because I thought it might be the single. I reached out to him because he's family, he's Block Royal and for the simple fact that he's hot.

EntertainmentOnFire.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.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: This is your debut, New York Rappers like Nas with Illmatic,Jay-Z with Reasonable Doubt and Biggie with Ready to Die released argubaly their best material as their debuts, are you hoping to do the same?

Joell Ortiz:I'm trying to make this one my baby to,just like they got they baby, i want this one to be mine.

EntertainmentOnFire.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**ga, 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 ni*gas is mad at Jay now because what's he talkig about. Like what can dude talk about right now, the nigga touched everything he could possibly touch, he's still trying to give y'all 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 back then. I'm going to give you those feelings again man. Those are the dudes I listen to. Dudes like Jay(Z),Like Nas, Like Big, like the early Lox. I'm here to bring that back.

EntertainmentOnFire.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 shit, because I'm a real n*gga. A lot of people like he's a rapper but he's doing a journal, no n*gga 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 Emcee.

EntertainmentOnFire.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 a 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 DJ's, features on some body's mix-tapes. 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 dude's 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 any body'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.

EntertainmentOnFire.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.


EntertainmentOnFire.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.

EntertainmentOnFire.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'm heading back out to where it's at.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: Rap beefs seem to be very popular these days, do you have any problems with any rappers?

Joell Ortiz: I ain't got no beef right now, and i don't really want no beef because beef is a money stopper and I'm a grinder, I like to get money. But if I did say I have a beef it's with dudes that contradict themselves. The whole let's bring New York back and they make down south records and spin down south records. If we going to be serious about bringing New York back... which I don't think New York died, like hip hop died. I just think we strayed away from what was working. You know, the witty rhymes, the lyrics over hard beats. If you a contradict yourself , I ain't got beef with you but I dislike you right now. We need to pull it together. Stop talking about it and be about it. As far as some street beef shit no, I don't condone it but like as an art and a craft, yo dude let's bring it back to what it used to be and stop playing.

EntertainmentOnFire.Com: What it used to be?

Joell Ortiz: It used to be that feeling dude. Like if I'm up and coming, if I was that dude. Like Rakim was on one side of the club and Big Daddy Kane on the other side, no body wanted to throw blows at each other, but they all knew that "you ain't fucking with me." They had that swagger, you feel me? That was hip hop we ain't got to shoot at each other, we ain't go to throw our shit up and try and get a fair one. Let's just be competitive, it's competitive but you got to keep it competitive and not ignorant. So I might be at the other end of a bar, and somebody that's up and coming might be at the other end, we give respect, with do that little head nod. And I'm going to say to my self “ he can't fuck we me,” and I hope he say the same thing so I can keep sharp.