Recorded with the three-quarters of Slaughterhouse for Eminem’s “Music To Be Murdered By” “I Will” seemed for many as a shadow of possible future of the project but it was, apparently, blast from the past.
The absence of Joe Budden on this record has nothing to do with how strained their relationship is now, Budden has never been on this joint. But for other Slaughterhouse members, the news about getting on new Marshall’s record was unexpected and welcome.
Joell Ortiz and Kxng Crooked talked about it in their recent interview with HotNewHipHop:
Joell: Yeah, “I Will” was something that we had all recorded maybe, when was that Crook? Do you remember?
Crook: I can’t remember but I just know… we were all together. We were in Em’s studio.
Joell: We were in Em’s studio but it was a few joints, a few years ago though. It was a few years ago. I always loved that damn song. Yeah, and we got the phone call from the label that Em loves it and wants to use it for his up-and-coming project and I was like “Yo, can I hear it? I haven’t heard it in a while, can I hear it?” I loved it when I heard it again. Cause sometimes, like you said with the old Glass House stuff, you don’t know if that energy’s gonna be there, you know what I’m saying? So I just wanted to hear it. But I loved what I said, I love how the song sounded. I was just like “aight cool, lets rock.” That’s how that really came about. It wasn’t anything new, it was something that had been recorded a few years ago by all of us actually.
Crook: Yeah and you know, Em makes a decision and sticks with it, like “Yo I like this, I like locking in with this.” He’s basically just giving you another plaque to hang on your wall. Just to keep it a buck, you know what I’m saying?
Joell: That’s a fact.
Crook: He’s just a good dude like that. A lot of people figured since Joe wasn’t on the song that that was some kind of slight or a shot, but it wasn’t you know what I mean? When we recorded that song, Joe didn’t get on that song, you feel me? And that’s just all that was so there was nothing else to read into. I know the fans like to, you know, they like that conflict and controversy and they like to get in those chat rooms and those comments and like to you know, pump up all these beef theories.[…] Em is just like that, he’s a good dude, man. And I think that it speaks volumes when somebody wants to use a song on his album from members of a group that it’s a grey area whether or not we even on Shady Records, you know what I’m saying right? We haven’t put any music out, we haven’t done anything. I feel like he doesn’t have to do the things that he does, you feel me? And I feel like that needs to be said publicly, you know what I mean? Because a lot of people get it fucked up out there when it comes to Marshall. So I always just wanna be on the record with that type of shit because it means a lot to me, you know what I mean? And that’s just real. But I ain’t gonna go on my rant. I’ma leave that there.
Joell: And that shit was a dope-ass record. That’s the bottom line.
The main topic of this interview is a joint EP “H.A.R.D.” that duo released recently but it also contains a lot of memories about Slaughterhouse super crew. You can read it in full on the website