Joell Ortiz is an American rapper of Puerto Rican descent from the Cooper Projects, a housing project in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. [1] He was born on July 6, 1980. At the age of 17, Ortiz made the decision to pass on both an academic and basketball scholarship to stay in Brooklyn. He is currently signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label.[2] He was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of The Source Magazine and was also selected as Chairman's Choice in XXL Magazine.[3] During the same time Joell also went on to win the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earned his song Mean Business a spot on the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack. The same year he was offered a contract to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. The deal quickly went sour which caused Joell to start a beef with Jermaine.[4] Joell has since collaborated with KRS-One and Kool G. Rap as well as working on his first album on Aftermath.Joell Ortiz released his street album called The Brick (Bodega Chronicles) April 24 on Koch Records. The album was recorded while Joell was trying to get signed and going through some tough times personally.[5] Even though he is signed to Aftermath Entertainment, Dr. Dre allowed him to release the street album on Koch Records.[6] The Brick features productions from Showbiz, The Alchemist & Moss, among others. Guest spots include Big Daddy Kane, Styles P, Big Noyd, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, Ras Kass, Maino and Stimuli.[5][7] Joell will also appear on Smif-N-Wessun's upcoming album, 'The Album'. In October 2007 Joell appeared on DJ Emz's remix of "Leyendecker", a song by the math-rock band Battles.
