With some serious coast-to-coast pedigree, Slaughterhouse is a collective of rappers that actually deserves to be called a supergroup. Made up of proven spitters Royce da 5’ 9” from Detroit, Jersey’s own Joe Budden, California’s Crooked I and Joell Ortiz from BK, Slaughterhouse has become a large beast in the rap game recently thanks to the success of second LP Welcome to: Our House. Sneaker Freaker grabbed some time off the guys to talk sneakers and hip-hop as they geared up for a four-stop Australian tour starting next month.
This is the first time you guys have come here as a group. Have you been here individually and what are you looking forward to?
Royce da 5’ 9”: I've been super excited about this tour. Australians have a lot of energy at shows. I got to experience both the nightclub side of it and the big arenas through supporting Eminem, and both were crazy. Just the people, the energy is wild.
Joell Ortiz: This is my first trip to Australia, I've been wanting to come since I was an 8-year-old. I’m gonna do everything, meet heaps of Australians, check out the animals, go to the zoo, I don’t care, whatever. I’m gonna do it all!
For a long time we haven’t had rappers of your calibre tour down here, but very recently we’ve had a lot of great acts come through. What do you put that down to?
R: I credit the Internet for that, for sure. Our fans can get at us and tell us to come over. The world's an oyster for artists like us now, we can know where to go by seeing where the demand is at ourselves. It’s so easy.
What can we expect from the tour, are you going stadium-style lighting or keeping it a raw rap show?
R: It’s gonna be a rap show for sure. We're gonna rap our asses off. We're going to do what we do best, have a blast, and take the crowd through all the motions of having a good time. There will be a lot of interaction with the crowd, of course, it’ll be a real rap show.
You’re bringing Schoolboy Q out with you as main support. Are you feeling what the TDE guys are doing from that little pocket of California?
Crooked I: Yeah, definitely. And that’s not just ‘cos I’m from California. It's just dope what the Black Hippy Crew is doing. We need it, the world needs it. It's great when people from where I'm from get put on, and make some sort of a mark. I salute them, they're reppin’. The TDE crew are getting success and doing it in a fly fashion.
You guys have been known to wear some eye-catching kicks in the past, would you say you’re sneakerheads?
J: Yeah, I got a lot of sneakers. I don't know if I'd call myself a sneaker collector, I’m a sneaker collector in another way ‘cos my sneakers collect dust in my closet - ‘cos I can’t throw ‘em out!
C: I think as hip hop artists, we're all influenced by sneaker culture. Run DMC started it with the adidas Superstar shell toes. I think you'll find most rappers have a lot of sneakers. Personally, I don't always know the names of everything but I've got a ton of sneakers. People see my shoes all the time and they're like, 'Where'd you get them?' I've got nice Reebok Pumps on right now, real fresh shit.
You can catch Slaughterhouse and Schoolboy Q at shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. Check the details below. Sneaker Freaker is also giving away two double passes to the Melbourne concert, enter here.
Saturday 23rd February – Sydney, Enmore Theatre Tickets from Ticketek www.ticketek.com.au
Wednesday 27th February – Brisbane, The Arena Tickets from Oztix www.oztix.com.au
Friday 1st March – Melbourne, Palace Theatre Tickets from www.ticketmaster.com.au Ph: 136 100
Saturday 2nd March – Perth, Metro City Tickets from www.oztix.com.au
