Joell Ortiz & Fred The Godson Are 2 NY Giants Of Wordplay. Listen To Their New Album

Joell Ortiz and Fred The Godson have a relationship that dates back to the earliest days of Slaughterhouse. The two skilled lyricists have been hopping on tracks together for quite some time. These New York representatives introduced their “King Kong” and “Godzilla” monikers in 2015 when Fred released The Heatmakerz-produced “Barbarians” single featuring Joell off his Contraband 2 mixtape. Then, in 2017, they unleashed their “Talk Dat” single that was still rocking Godzilla imagery. Next came the video at the top of 2018, which promised the album was on the way soon. In 2019, they have given Heads a healthy dose of that Hardcore Hip-Hop, under the aptly-titled Gorilla Glue.

Fittingly, they named themselves after a popular and potent strain of marijuana. However, it also seems to allude to their earlier aliases. It’s important to note that The Heatmakerz are behind the boards for this whole album and they bring their trademark horn and vocal sample-heavy sound in spades. The duo of Rsonist and Thrilla call back to some of the sounds that they outfitted Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and the rest of The Diplomats with 15-plus years ago. The “GG Intro (No Smoke)” is a great example with its catchy, sped-up “c’mon” snippet chirping throughout.

Joell Ortiz Examines How Growing Up Fast Shaped Him Over A Lush Apollo Brown Beat

Nonetheless, what fans might not expect is the mega hits they sample for the last three songs on this joint. “Raw,” “Outstanding,” and “Move The Crowd” pull samples from some overt places—two of the three are right from titles of past hits of the same name. Although bold, the results are pleasing, and Gorilla Glue uses familiarity to its advantage, not unlike Meek Mill’s Championships last year. It feels like a mixtape in the best ways. The songs definitely hit and the MCs catch wreck like in was 1996. In fact, their interplay on the closing cut boasts the kind of chemistry that make this project unique.

Dipset Capo Jim Jones makes a noteworthy appearance on the vocal chop flavor of “Feliz Navidad.” The Heatmakerz cut up an ill Iron Lung sample for “Murder One.” They let the whole line play once, “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, murder one lyric at your door,” and then edited it down to “murder one” and use it to punctuate the bars of the hook. It’ll have listeners singing along by the second chorus break.

Fred The Godson Delivers One Of The Year’s Best Freestyles & Makes It Look Easy (Video)

Following one of the best album’s of Joell Ortiz’s career in 2018’s Mona Lisa (with Apollo Brown), he shows no signs of tapping the brakes.

A video interview with Joell and Apollo (filmed in Rsonist’s Manhattan studio) is available at AFH TV.