Op-ed: Slaughterhouse Will Outrap Your Whole Crew

The cypher is the purest form of hip-hop. Stripped of any and all restrictions, it is the quintessential measure of an emcees talent. A dope 16 draws oos and ahhs from the crowd at the BET Awards. A dope 16 got Big Sean and J. Cole signed by the residing behemoths of the rap game. A dope 16 can change an emcees life. But most of all, a dope 16 that flows effortlessly out of a rapper’s mouth shows you how brilliant hip hop is. How do these guys come up with such creative lines? How do they perfect their cadences to make it sound like they are flawlessly gliding over any beat thrown their way? It leaves me bewildered and shaking my head in wonder. It makes the hair on my neck stand up. It’s an adrenaline shot to my chest.

Slaughterhouse graced Funkmaster Flex‘s radio show recently, and though they may not have been trying to, proved once (and I think for all), that on a purely bar-for-bar basis, no one comes close to touching them. Each member of the crew goes off for a straight two minutes. Twice. Each of their verses gets stronger as the second hand on the clock ticks forward. Their styles are such a contrast to each other but they fit perfectly in the grand puzzle. Royce with his gritty, Detroit, talk-about-my-dick bravado rap. Joe Budden with his deep, thoughtful, real street verses that are a scorching opposite of his Twitter persona. Crooked with his Long Beach, blazingly fast, don’t-fuck-with-me verses and Joell Ortiz with his Spanish flair mixed in with his New York roots. Their most recent stint rhyming for Funk Flex is something close to immaculate, and if you don’t believe me, peep some of their best verses after the jump.

Joe Budden:

“Don’t be confused by the Bentleys and the Corvettes/Got stories from my hood that will rival those of war vets”

“Catch him off guard, he sleep when the killer walking/It’ll be two shots muzzled by feathers, now we pillow talking”

“Don’t care that she anti-social, my Darren Sproles boo, she do what the last Bush was supposed to.”

Crooked I:

“We a mix between Tyra Banks and energy drinks: Four-headed (foreheaded) Monster”

Joell Ortiz:

“And it’s looking like a cold winter/Slaughterhouse, just remember diss a member and get dismembered”

“Had your new album turned into a cassette, and made the price go down per cassette like a Percocet”

Royce:

“You plus one on the list at the club, but your boy don’t give you the right to challenge a pro, you And 1.”

No one is touching these cats (especially Mr. Budden) right now. A day may come when that changes, but put any emcee up against any one of these guys right now, and, in my humble opinion, they will get slaughtered (pun definitely intended). Listen to the full freestyles below.

Part 1:

Part 2: