After months of negotiation and speculation, Eminem has finally confirmed that the hip hop quartet known as Slaughterhouse has officially finalized the deal and signed to Shady Records / Interscope. Slaughterhouse consists of Royce da 5’9″, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden and Crooked I. It has also been announced that Alabama native Yelawolf has signed to the label as well. Slaughterhouse, Em and Yelawolf will all appear on the March XXL cover where a formal announcement and full report will be made.
Interscope provided the following statement from Eminem:
“Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, it’s kinda phase two of Shady. It’s the new generation of Shady Records and as we’re trying to rebuild our label, it’s exciting for Hip Hop and with all of these forces coming together and with what everybody’s capable of on the mic, it’s gonna be fun.”
Royce also noted the significance of being reunited with his former friend and rhyme partner before their falling out in 2002, “It’s very exciting for me to reunite with Eminem years after our Bad Meets Evil project together. Slaughterhouse on Shady Records will be a force to reckon with“.
This also marks the return of Joell Ortiz to the Interscope label where he was previously signed to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint between 2005 and 2007.
Yelawolf had to say about the deal:
“We kicked it a couple times but we haven’t laid anything down yet. But I think we’re supposed to go to Detroit next week, so it’s coming. Just wait. I already know the pressure is there but if I let that shit get to me, it’ll affect my music. A lot of rappers have this obsession with staying underground, but I want to take it to the stadium level. We’ve been sitting on records for like four years that we knew were too big for a mixtape. So I’m just focused on writing a great album right now. That’s why I’m calling it ‘Radioactive’ because I want to personally challenge myself and the industry. It’s a metaphor for my version of radio records. Now, it’s just time to put out a major album and let everyone know why I’m Shady.“