Slaughterhouse was an American hip hop supergroup consisting of rappers

Joe Budden Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American media personality and former rapper. He first gained recognition as a rapper with his 2003 top 40 single " Pump It Up" and as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse. In ...

Joell Ortiz Joell Christopher Ortiz (born July 6, 1980) is an American rapper and a former member of the group Slaughterhouse. Ortiz grew up in the Cooper Park Houses in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, formerly signed to Dr. Dre's Aft ...

Crooked I Dominick Antron Wickliffe (born September 23, 1976), better known by his stage names Crooked I and Kxng Crooked, (stylised as KXNG Crooked and pronounced "King Crooked") is an American rapper from Long Beach, California. He is best known as a f ...

and

Royce da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Montgomery is currently one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, an ...

. They released two studio albums as a group: ''

Slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is not ...

'' (2009) independently and '' Welcome to: Our House'' (2012) under Shady and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mu ...

History

2008: Formation

The group formed in late 2008 after Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, Royce da 5'9", and Joe Budden appeared on the song "Slaughterhouse" from Joe Budden's album ''

Halfway House A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...

''. They decided to form a group and named the group after the song. The members of Slaughterhouse all share some degree of controversy from their past in the music industry. All four address these issues in the song "Move On".

2009–2010: Debut album

Their self-titled debut album was released on August 11, 2009. The album was recorded over a six-day period in early June. The album features production from Focus, The Alchemist, DJ Khalil, StreetRunner and

Mr. Porter Denaun Porter (born December 7, 1974), also known by the stage names Mr. Porter, Kon Artis, and more recently simply Denaun, is an American rapper and music producer. He was a member of Detroit hip hop group D12 until its disbandment in 2018. ...

of D12. On June 18, 2009, the first street single off the album was released via Joe Budden's Twitter account. The track was "Woodstock (Hood Hop)" and features

M.O.P. M.O.P. (short for Mash Out Posse) is an American hip hop duo composed of East Coast rappers Billy Danze and Lil' Fame. The song " Ante Up", was released on their ''Warriorz'' album in 2000. The group has frequently collaborated with DJ Premi ...

on the hook. The first official single from the album was " The One". A second video for the song ''Microphone'' was also released in late 2009. A video directed by

Rik Cordero Rik Cordero (born 1979 as Fredric Joseph Cordero) is an American film director and musician. Cordero was born and raised in Queens, New York and is known for applying unusual, non-traditional shooting methods in his work. He was nominated for Vi ...

. Their debut album sold 18,000 copies in its first week (Only 20,000 copies were shipped to stores). As of September 5, 2009 the album has sold 31,000 copies. The group initially planned for their second album to release in 2010, tentatively named by Crooked I as ''No Muzzle''. In late 2009, however,

confirmed talks between the group and

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's '' The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful ...

, stating that he felt their second album should be released on a major label.

2011–2012: Shady Records and ''Welcome to: Our House''

As rumors of a

/Slaughterhouse signing spread, in March 2010, Joell Ortiz posted a rant on Twitter denigrating E1 Entertainment for blocking Shady negotiations, implying that another party was involved as well. Responding to a disgruntled Amalgam Digital executive's allegations against him, Joe Budden confirmed that complications regarding E1 and Amalgam were the reason the deal had not been completed previously. Royce da 5'9" would later name-drop Shady Records in a ''Bar Exam 3'' freestyle, and the group released a song entitled "Beamer, Benz or Bentley (ShadyMegaMix)", while still with E1. Slaughterhouse, minus Joe Budden, were featured on the iTunes deluxe edition of Eminem's Recovery album on the track "Session One", while also still with E1. The group also featured in "Loud Noises" on '' Hell: The Sequel'', a collaborative EP between Royce and Eminem. Plans to release an EP were revealed by HipHopDX in their Rap Release Dates update in June 2010, tentatively titled '' Slaughterhouse EP''. The EP was released on February 8, 2011, with four new tracks and two remixes by Frequency of tracks previously released. On January 12, 2011, it was confirmed that the group officially signed to

along with

Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, he embarked on his career independently in 2005, releasing one extended play (EP) and four mixt ...

. Both acts appeared along with

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

on the cover of '' XXL'' magazine's March 2011 edition. A year later, the group was featured on the cover of the July/August issue of ''The Source'' magazine in anticipation of their Shady Records debut. On July 7, 2012, Royce announced in an interview with Jenny Boom Boom that the group will release a pre-album mixtape around the first week of August. A new single "Throw It Away" produced by Swizz Beats, will be off the album "Welcome to: Our House". Joe Budden revealed via Twitter that the mixtape is called "On The House" and will be hosted by DJ Drama. A promotional video for the mixtape was released on August 6, 2012, and previewed a song called "See Dead People", with confirmed guest appearances on the mixtape by

and Black Hippy. On August 16, Slaughterhouse released a new track, "Truth or Truth". The Mixtape '' On the House'' was released on Aug.19th. Slaughterhouse released their second studio album '' Welcome to: Our House'', the first to be released under Shady Records, on August 28, 2012. As of November 23, 2012, it has sold 146,000 copies in the US. Budden has admitted to the group abusing substances during the recording of the album however saying the whole group is sober and ready for their third album.

2013–2018: ''Glass House'' and split

In May 2013, Slaughterhouse confirmed that they had put their solo projects on hold, and had begun recording for their third studio album. The album will be executive produced by

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Blaze attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue his mu ...

and contains production by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League,

Cardiak Carl McCormick (born June 26, 1988), professionally known as Cardiak, is an American record producer from Willingboro Township, New Jersey. He began producing music in 2008 and is known for his work with closely associated artists such as Ace H ...

, Illmind,

AraabMuzik Abraham Orellana (born June 16, 1989), better known as his stage name AraabMuzik ( ; stylized as araabMUZIK), is an American record producer and DJ. He made a name for himself by performing beats and instrumentals live and in real time on a Ak ...

and

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop du ...

. In November 2013, Joe Budden confirmed that the album would be released in early 2014. At the time he also stated that

Action Bronson Ariyan Arslani (born December 2, 1983), professionally known as Action Bronson, is an American rapper, songwriter, chef, wrestler, exotic olive oil taster, and television presenter. Born and raised in Queens, New York, he embarked on his musical ...

would be featured on the album, and they had yet to work with Eminem on it. On May 21, 2014, the group released their second mixtape titled '' House Rules'', which featured 10 tracks with production from

Nottz Dominick J. Lamb, (born February 21, 1977) better known by his stage name Nottz (or Nottz Raw), is an American hip hop record producer and rapper from Norfolk, Virginia. Nottz has produced for some of the biggest names in hip hop, including ...

DJ Pain 1 Pacal Bayley (born October 21, 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Pain 1, is an American record producer and DJ from Madison, Wisconsin. He has produced for artists including Young Jeezy, 50 Cent, Schoolboy Q, Ludacris, Lil Baby, Sarko ...

, The Heatmakerz, Illmind, Harry Fraud among others. On February 19, 2015, Royce da 5'9" had confirmed that the album was "pretty close to being done", and that the group, along with Eminem were "nitpicking at it". He had hoped for a summer release date for the album. On February 7, 2017, Joe Budden confirmed on his podcast that the album will never be released In April 2018, Crooked I announced via Instagram his departure from Slaughterhouse and confirmed that ''Glass House'' "exists" but without a release date. He said there were no harsh feelings about his departure: it was "all love". Joell Ortiz and Royce da 5'9" commented on the announcement with respect and support. On April 26, 2018, Royce da 5’9” announced that the supergroup had officially disbanded.

2018–present: Aftermath

In September 2018, Eminem released a four-part interview with

Sway Calloway Sway Calloway is an American journalist, radio personality, executive producer and former rapper. Known as Sway, he is known for hosting music, news, and culture programming. He was the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show ''The Wake Up ...

on his YouTube channel explaining the reasons why the group had a downfall. In January 2020, former group members Royce da 5'9", Crooked I, and Joell Ortiz were featured on

's eleventh studio album, '' Music to Be Murdered By'', on the track "I Will". In February 2022, Crooked I and Joell Ortiz announced a collaborative studio album titled '' Rise & Fall of Slaughterhouse'', in which they addressed the group's fallout from their own perspectives. Royce da 5'9" and Joe Budden were displeased with the project, as they viewed it as an attempt to tear down the Slaughterhouse brand for financial gain without consent from the rest of the group. On March 8, following a heated exchange between Royce, Budden, and Ortiz on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

Live, Crooked I gave further explanation about the situation, saying that he and Ortiz tried to get the group together for years but were unsuccessful, mainly due to Budden's lack of interest and cooperation, and that he and Ortiz wanted to make one final project to give their fans some closure.

Discography

* ''

'' (2009) * '' Welcome to: Our House'' (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughterhouse (group) Hip hop supergroups American hip hop groups Interscope Records artists Shady Records artists Musical groups established in 2008 Musical groups disestablished in 2018