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Novel & Joell Ortiz “Defying The Predictable” Review

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:51:11 +0000

Joell Ortiz and Novel live up to their collaborative mixtape title, Defying The Predictable by, well, defying the predictable mixtape sound. What we have here is the first stellar mixtape to drop in 2010.

Ortiz and Novel do play off each others styles to perfection as evident by the mixtape. Novel’s smooth R&B and soulish singing voice meets Ortiz and his aggressive get-out-of-my-way-I’m-from-Brooklyn-dammit flow.

One of the best transitions to happen on the tape is when Novel exits from singing and goes into rapping. He manages the switch so nonchalantly making you get blown away by his talents and to further question why he doesn’t get recognized as one of the industry’s best.

Ortiz also shines as he continues to show off his lyrical ability and adaptation to any kind of production and style. This mixtape will make you anticipate Ortiz’s forthcoming album, Free Agent even more.

The standout track on the mixtape remains Stressful, which plays off Trey Songz and Drake’s Successful. Novel is the standout here as he takes Trey’s part on the hook where “I just want to be successful” becomes “Why is everything so stressful?” Along with that, he also throws down a verse at the end of the song. People like to cite Drake as the duel threat between rapping and singing abilities. Well, Novel is also worthy of the duel-threat tag. In fact, he’s probably even better. Novel not only sings and raps on this mixtape, but a handful of tracks on the mixtape are also produced by him. He’s a trifecta of talent.

Another thing making this mixtape an enjoyable listening experience are the sprinkled in soundbites from the film, Almost Famous. As you listen through, some of the songs are introduced by well-known soundbites from the film which play into the theme of the song.

Jadakiss, Spree Wilson, Saigon, Slaughterhouse are also featured on tape.

Listen to “Stressful” and download the tape.

Novel & Joell Ortiz – Ghetto Pt. 1

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:24:55 +0000

Excitement at The Urbanian is becoming overwhelming as we await for Joell Ortiz and Novel’s collaborative mixtape, “Defying the Predictable,” to drop. The mixtape will drop next Friday, Feb. 6. As we wait for the final week until release, we are granted with one last leak, “Ghetto Pt. 1.”

Listen and download.

Joell Ortiz & Novel – “Like I Know”

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:09:15 +0000

We’re a little late on this track, but it’s too good to just never post.

As we do our best to patiently wait on Joell Ortiz and Novel to release their collaborative “Defying the Predictable” mixtape, the duo leaked out another track from the project to tide us over.

Ortiz spits the bars and Novel gets his R&B soul-swag on for the hook. It’s a solid joint overall, but we want “Defying the Predictable” already!

Listen & download.

Novel & Joell Ortiz Ft. Cristyle – “Stressful”

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:15:38 +0000

Novel and Joell Ortiz have a collaborative mixtape, “Defying the Predictable” dropping later this month or early January. Novel was kind enough to post up one of the joints of that mixtape, “Stressful.” In the song, him, Joell Ortiz and Cristyle go in over Drake’s “Successful.”

And of course we all know, anything involving Novel is a hit.

Listen & Download.

Slaughterhouse DJBooth interview

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:36:26 +0000

This is a must-watch for any true hip-hop fan. Slaughterhouse is a hip-hop group comprised of Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, Crooked I, and Royce Da 5′9”.

Slaughterhouse is probably makes the most pure hip-hop out there today. In the four-minute interview they discuss their own impact on hip-hop, Rock the Bells, and their own individual careers.

Watch the interview, and be sure to listen to this amazing group sometime.

Recommended Mixtape: Novel – ‘Suspended Animation’

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:17:21 +0000

Even though it dropped several days ago, I just finally got around listening to Novel’s latest mixtape, ‘Suspended Animation.’

We’ve already posted a couple leaks from this mixtape on the website in past few days, so it’s a great feeling to get a hold of the mixtape in its entirety.

It is of my opinion, and it should be yours also, that Novel is by far one of the more talented upcoming artists out there right now.

On ‘Animation’ Novel offers music lovers a bit everything: soul, hip-hop, alternative rock, and R&B.

Like other Novel tunes, ‘Animation’ is full of songs with an actual message to those that choose to listen. This is easily seen on ‘Message to Rihanna’ which also features Ghostface. I’m sure just by looking at the title you can figure out it’s song that goes out to women that get abused.

Fans of the singing rap style (i.e. Drake, Kid Cudi, B.o.B) should immediately hop on the Novel bandwagon and embrace the music found on this mixtape.

The mixtape also features Joell Ortiz, Papoose, Colin Munroe, Ghostface, Spree Wilson, and Ced Hughes.

Track highlights are ‘Sky Might Fall (soul remix),’ ‘Mad World (remix),’ ‘E.O.T.W (Donnie Darko),’ and ‘Suspended Animation.’

The Urbanian provides our favorite track embedded below, and a link to download the mixtape.

Listen to ‘E.O.T.W (Donnie Darko)

Download ‘Suspended Animation‘

01. Intro
02. Suspended Animation (feat. Ced Hughes)
03. Sky Might Fall (Soul Remix)
04. Her
05. Message To Rhianna (feat. Ghostface)
06. Good Luv
07. Put It On
08. Makes You Happy (Smooth Mix)
09. Around We Go
10. To Find A Hero (feat. Colin Munroe)
11. Interlude
12. Dream World (feat. Spree Wilson)
13. So Much More (feat. Joell Ortiz & Papoose)
14. Song Cry Part 2
15. Mad World (Remix)
16. E.O.T.W. (aka Donnie Darko)

Novel ft. Joell Ortiz & Papoose – ‘So Much More’

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:23:10 +0000

As Novel continues to make good music it’s hard not to recognize him as one of the emcees to get most excited about. The singing rapper is the new ‘it’ thing, and Novel may do it best.

Here’s a video to a new Novel joint.

“I breathe in disappointment and exhale rap”
-Ortiz

Novel ft. Joell Ortiz & Papoose – So Much More from eskay on Vimeo.