Aftermath’s latest signee Joell Ortiz recently received a release date for his street album, The Brick. The album is scheduled to drop February 21, 2007 on Koch Records.


“I love this album because I made it while I was going through the industry bullshit of trying to get signed and some tough times, personally,” Joell Ortiz told HipHopGame. “It’s full of pain and rage and you can hear it. It’s a soundtrack to the hood version of David vs. Goliath. That’s the best way to describe it. If you’ve ever gone through some rough waters, this album is for you. It’s the common man’s music. Industry people, so-called “cool guys” and “posers,” don’t get this music and they never will. It’s not for them. It’s for us.”


Joell is known to have an incredible work ethic, which means he undoubtedly had many tracks to choose from for The Brick. “I started the album awhile ago, so it took a lot of turns,” he says. “I am always recording so it was hard to choose what made the album.”


Despite having Joell Ortiz under contract, Dr. Dre gave Joell his blessing on The Brick. “I want to thank Dre for allowing us to do this street album for Koch.,” Joell said. “Most record company presidents wouldn’t allow their artists to do an outside project for another company. Dre asked to hear the album. After he heard it, he called me and told me it was fire. He gave me his blessing to put it out. Aftermath is a boutique label that is very artistically-driven. Dre is an artist so he gets it. Aftermath is the perfect place for me and I’m enjoying the process.”


Showbiz, Alchemist, Domingo, Ho Chi from Killahertz Productions, Novel and Moss, among others, lent their production skills to The Brick while Big Noyd, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, Ras Kass, Stimuli and Novel shared the mic with Ortiz.


To stay updated with Joell Ortiz, visit http://myspace.com/joellortiz.


Reported by Brian Kayser