Joell Ortiz
Joell Ortiz is talented enough to be a household name and more. Right now he’s like an avalanche in its early stages. Signed by Dr. Dre, he was granted the special privelage of being able to release an album on Koch Records before his Aftermath debut. I guess Dre realizes there’s more than enough of this kid to keep the masses satisfied. What we at illtema like about him is that he’s appreciative and thankful for his blessings and he’s an incredibly hard worker. Oh yea, we like that he’s a beast on the mic too.
It’s so much shit for one kid. I’m a kid with all these let’s just say “names” on his shoulders and I got a team and all but at the end of the day when I take the beats home, I write to them. I’m the one doing the 60 interviews, and the 190 drops. That shit is heavy work, dude. That’s why I wanna tell people when you support a nigga and go buy his shit, it’s well appreciated. When you go scan that shit, you’re paying me–you’re giving me my check. I swear to god I’m working just like how y’all niggas do it. I didn’t think it would be like that. I thought it was just “Bring him a beat and rhyme.” But you learn that oh my god it ain’t.
For example I never thought I’d be at the point where I’ll wake up at nine in the morning, throw on a beat and write it out. Then scrap it cause I didn’t like it. Then I rewrite it and lay it down. Then I gotta email ninety drops. “Yo this is your boy Joell Ortiz” repetitively, another 89 times. Next a producer wants to come in and play me some beats. “You like those? Okay, take those home with you.” Later on you gotta do a walkthrough at the club. I didn’t know that when I signed up to be a rapper I signed up for this. But fuck it, I love it, I love doing this shit, so I’m gonna do it.
Plus where I come from, niggas don’t give a fuck [about you]. [Now] there are 150 people who give a fuck about me right now. I’m doing it. I’m from Cooper Projects, an area in Brooklyn right next door to Queens—a real easy commute to the city. It’s diverse over there. It’s Brooklyn in general. Anybody who mentions Brooklyn always talks about the energy in Brooklyn because it’s a competitive borough. You walk down the block and look at a nigga like “You can’t fuck with me,” on any level. “You don’t get more bitches than me. Your kicks look ran-down.” Brooklyn breeds a competitive spirit and I think that was influential in my coming up. The shit you see on my corner is the shit you see on any hood corner of the US, so I wouldn’t say it’s special in that sense, but Brooklyn is a competitive borough with a competitive nature and we thrive on it and we’re very proud that’s why when I get on a beat I have that attitude like you can’t fuck with me without saying it, because I really feel that way.
My part of Brooklyn is great. We had the most sneakers on the phone line. We had like 290 sneakers hanging on the phone line. We took pride in that. Motherfuckers would get out of their cars and be like “What the fuck is this?” and we’d be like “Converse!” We used to be hyped like “Yea nigga, we wrecked the phone line!” Kids running to the ice cream truck with no money. Sprinklers on in the park get flooded creating dirty ass water and motherfuckers would dive into that shit. I miss it, cause it’s getting watered-down now with construction. You go to Brooklyn now and you see one house under construction and two houses away is the same thing. We’re losing that touch, the hood that we have. But when I talk about the older times I’m talking about baseball strike boxes in chalk on the wall. Niggas would be like, “Hold up, hold up, a car.” That was the ill shit though.
I was eleven years old when I used to see the older niggas cypher. I’d see them in front of the building rhyming. I used to sit there and I’d be like, “I always liked rap,” but I’m looking past the cypher, seeing how the nice niggas got bitches on their dick, niggas praising them when they walk up like “Oh shit, here comes “so and so.” I’m thinking “Damn, you’ve got the chance to be the man cause you can make words rhyme?” Simply because at the end of the day, people are making it seem way harder than it is, We are making words rhyme! This nigga’s the man cause he can make words rhyme better than him? I said, “Fuck that, I’m making words rhyme too.” I went upstairs, my shit was weak but it was rhyming. So I was like “Oh, I can rhyme.” I stepped to the cypher. That’s the thing about Hip Hop, nobody said “Yo, who is this?” They’re just like “Spit, son.” I thought to myself, “And you get accepted like this? This is the shit.” Before you knew it I was polishing like “I might not be the best but I’m gonna beat him, next time.” That’s how I took on that shit.
I was always into learning. Some niggas are into learning, some niggas just aint. I liked having my hand up. Teachers knew no matter where I sat, front row or the back row, my hand was up cause I liked the competitive shit. I treated the classroom competitively too like “Yeah I know it, yall niggas don’t know it.” But I was still hood. In the lunchroom is where you would see the kid from the projects. I knew how to balance the two. I used to surprise teachers a lot. I used to get off of a lot of shit I’d get into. Me and my man would pound somebody outside of the lunchroom and they’d bring both of us in, they don’t really know but they heard from word of mouth that Joell and this nigga did it. We’d be in front of the Dean and he’s looking at the other nigga like, “I know he did it, but Joell what happened?” I’d be like, “I don’t know I was standing there and they came and got me,” and the Dean would be like “I know he didn’t do it.” And I’d be like “Yeah!” That’s from being an attentive learner. So they’d be like, “No he’s not into that shit” Niggas used to be so tight like, “This motherfucker.” I’m glad I paid attention in school.
Now I pay attention to Hip Hop. It gives me an edge on my competition, the people that they put me in the same classrooms with in this game. Niggas is doing a lot of cheating on tests in here. Niggas is doing a lot of non-studying in this game and that’s what’s going to get me 95’s and 100’s and they’ll get C’s. You’ll pass. You’ll get by. What’s gonna make motherfuckers say this nigga’s on the honor roll? I wanna make the honor roll in Rap. I don’t wanna be a C student in Rap. I want to be an A-plus student in Rap. I wanna be Valedictorian. I don’t want to be the nigga they call up in the cap and gown to get his diploma. I want them to be like “Okay, come up and speak, Mr Ortiz.” How do you do that? You got to study. The same way. You got to apply yourself. Niggas don’t be applying themselves. I see a lot of rappers that ain’t even happy. How are you not happy? You got hand-picked. You know how many people hit me up on Myspace like, “Yo Joell I’m feeling your shit, check my shit out.” Or “Yo Joell I do beats, check me.” How are you not happy when there are so many niggas that wish they were where you are? I’m happy. Niggas need to start being happy. We’re all mad, not me, but niggas are mad at the South. How are you going to be mad at niggas who are happy? They’re happy and that’s why they’re up. Over here none of us are really on but we all act like superstars. We all got deals. So? That’s just a loan. We all got loans, acting like we’re gone. Nobody’s going to be on MTV Cribs no time soon unless we start getting back in the classrooms. This all goes back to that, “Stop cutting classes and going to clubs,” shit. [Choosing the] clubs is like saying “Oh I hate Art, let’s go to the gym.” Don’t you want the club to make sense? When Dick Vitale says a basketball player is hot and academically ill, the NBA goes “Hmnnn, he’s a good guy.” That shit means something. That’s what makes you get out of [the hood]. I do all that shit. I don’t skip any steps. My team took what I had to offer and turned me into the total package. I got everything. My show game is crazy. My rhyme game is crazy. I’m a good guy. I’m down to earth. I don’t know how to be up-there. I don’t want to be up-there. I don’t look for any answers. I just look for the way to word it right. There’s nothing that you should be able to ask me that I don’t know the answer to, if you’re in the classroom. That’s where I stay at.