Imagine an emcee with the conviction of a Tupac Shakur, the sincerity of a Christopher Wallace and the word play of a Christopher Lee Rios. Visualize an emcee in his room, with an instrumental tape, in his broken down tape deck, nodding his head to beats that made his heart pump creativity. Create the image in your mind, of an eager Latino boy; prepping himself for ciphers and sessions- held flights away, on the project’s concrete, also known as the “battle zone.”

Within that battle zone, black and brown faces, rocked back and fourth, unintentionally landing spit on each other’s winter coats. Their Timberland boots, skullcaps and durable denim would be their protection from the dangerous heat that spread within that circle, and for them, the cold breeze would make as much of an impact as a Sheryl Crow show.

Nothing mattered in the arena of the battle zone, designed to prepare emcees for the future. The only thing that mattered to Joell Ortiz, was taking those skills as preparation for the future and applying them to the real work place. Just like college, an adult Ortiz discovered that with the skills and drive, the he possessed, it still wouldn’t guarantee a permanent position.

Hope and consistently guides the Brooklyn born emcee, to a place called, “progressive thinking” and his lessons learned have him in the studio, prepping for his upcoming album, set for release later this year. HipHopDX caught up with  to talk about his industry battles, his relationship with Aftermath and his upcoming project. 

Wait until you read the exclusive 16.

HipHopDX: A while back in a DX interview you said, “My talent is Hip Hop and it doesn’t have a color, gender, background, or ethnicity. It's just an art…” Do you think your ethnicity or color plays a role in your career's peak?
Joell Ortiz: No, it doesn’t play a role and it just so happens that I’m Latin and large portion of my fan base is Latin. I have fans all over the place that are green, purple, red, blue- it doesn’t matter. Hip Hop doesn’t have a color, like I said, it's just an energy and a feeling. When you get that feeling of somebody rocking on stage or the music is on, I don’t think my fan base has an issue my ethnicity.

DX: Cool. How important is it for black and brown people to understand the role and positions of Puerto Ricans and Latinos is the foundation of Hip Hop? Sometimes there is this perception that there is a glass ceiling for Latino emcees.
JO: I agree, that’s true. Growing up you had artists like Fat Joe and Big Pun, yet that wall is still up. In the early parts of my career I found myself being booked [exclusively at] Latin Hip Hop venues, first. We were trying to get in Hip Hop venues- not just the Latin portion. We wanted to rock stages, not just Spanish stages. The wall is still up and I’m ready to chip away at it. I think I’m doing a hell of a job - at least that’s what my fans tell me. I’m going to continue to continue to knock down that wall, in order to abolish that “Puerto Rican” rapper.

DX: Then you do agree, that it’s important for listeners to understand the contributions Latinos made to the foundation of Hip Hop? Latinos were a huge part of the foundation.
JO: If you look at the DVDs of earlier days in Hip Hop, who do you think were doing all the break-dancing, holding the boom-boxes and all that? The Latinos were there. They had they own breaks and everything. We’re not outcasts or new comers, we’ve been there since the beginning, also. We had the Kangols, we were walking up to each other, ready to break…so I don’t get it how we gotta feel like newcomers or outcasts. But I’m a chip away at it, to make sure that goes away.

DX: Word. As a child, you would think that all it took to be a good emcee was dope lyrics and hot beats-apparently that’s not all it takes to be relevant emcee in the Hip Hop industry. How much of a shock was it for you, to discover that your lyricism didn’t equate to mass acceptance?
JO: Shit was [laughing] ridiculous. I was very, very disturbed, as a fan first. It had nothing to do with attempting to get a record deal, or make things out for myself- but as a fan. When I would hear things like, "He’s dope, but he’s just a little bit chubby," or "I get it, I get it, but he doesn’t have that twinkle in his eye or that star quality that we’re quite looking for." I’m like, are you for’real? When I was 11 years old coming out of my building to get into these ciphers, I was just trying to bust niggas' asses over the beat. I would get into these ciphers, to just be the best nigga in the cipher and that’s the way I still approach the best. I want people to say, “Damn, that dude is nice.” You telling me you dig the demo, but you won’t give a chance because of reasons outside of that? That shit is bullshit and I don’t like it. Right now, its like, I’m riding the beats but they think I’m going over people’s heads and they want me to “Dumb it down a notch.” Dumb it down? I don’t know nothing bout that. What part of the game is that? I thought the point was for that wow or to get better. It's okay though, its making my road a little longer, but my foundation is stronger than these one hit wonders or these dudes who come in and fade away. I don’t mind, my fans will follow me wherever I go, so I’m fine.

DX: Where do you think the transition came in Hip Hop, when it went from dope lyricism to raw haircuts and $300 sneakers?
JO: I would have to say late '90s early 2000s. People started to get a lot of money and the audience became younger and younger. People started to make a lot of dances records-which I don’t knock, because a lot of those dudes come from the gutter and we share similar experiences, yet that’s the music they make. I don’t knock that kind of music, but I just think it needs to be bit more diverse and spread out. There is an audience for all types of Hip Hop music. There’s an audience for Joell Ortiz, there’s an audience for down south music, for west coast music- there’s an audience for all of it. I don think we spread the wealth enough. Right now, if you look at the top tens, the majority of them are dance records. Eight out of 10 are dance records and stuff like that…where’s the hard-core lyrics? There’s a huge audience of dudes who just waitin’ on a head nod, or to be like, “This right here is hard.”

DX: Growing up, whom did you admire in regards to the art of emceeing?
JO: I’m in my twenties, so I was listening to the Nas’ of the world, Jay-Z, Biggie, 2Pac, M.O.P., AZ, Wu-Tang, Smif n' Wessun- you know it was the early '90s thing. It all influenced Joell Ortiz and I’m pretty sure they have people who influenced them. I try my best to over-stress, that I’m a fan first. I just got a record deal. I listen to music all day. My iPod is still full of all the legends and I’m the audience at these shows. I just came from seeing Rakim last month. I’m a Hip Hop fan and I still listen to all of those dudes today and I’m not afraid to say that I’m a fan, of the people I named. Continued on page 2 »