Emcee of the Month: Joell Ortiz

I watched quite a few Joell interviews, and I was trying to find something that was as recent as possible. But the thing about Joell is that he's very good at "shifting his code" to appeal to the given interview environment, much better than his outward show may appear. That's a good thing. It means he's aware of his audience and has learned how to make himself and his work available to them. However, due to interviewers hastily making their way to requests for Joell to rhyme, I feel we miss a lot of who Mr. Ortiz actually is.

So it took me a while to find a clip of him speaking that felt like I was seeing and hearing the purest story about who he is and what have been the important events and influences during his career.

I finally found an interview from a documentary television series called Mr. Dante Luna. Now, maybe I haven't searched enough, but I haven't found much information about this series; when it was made, its length, or its intention. Nevertheless, this interview with Joell is wonderful. There's no interviewer, no gang of dudes wallflowering the recording, and no pressure for a freestyle. Joell simply tells us about his life and career in very honest, simple terms. From what I can tell, he's quite an individual. Have a look.

peace.