Slaughterhouse Share Five Memorable ‘Welcome to: Our House’ Moments — Exclusive

The men of Slaughterhouse -- Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce da 5'9" -- are beyond proving their rap skills to doubt-filled keyboard gangsters. In fact, when asked directly about feeling the need to set new standards with their latest mixtape, On the House, Budden offers an emphatic "No."

"Hell no," he tells The Boombox. "Not for me anyway. I've been saying this whole time that the fans lucked out as far as the timing went. We've been on the road doing two tours: American and European. We hadn't rapped in a while. It was a lot of stories and we had a lot to say by the time we got in the studio."

Fresh off the recent release of the DJ Drama-assisted tape, which serves as a preface to their Interscope debut Welcome to: Our House, Slaughterhouse says that while it was a great decision to put music out before the official LP, it wasn't mandatory.

"I didn't feel like it was necessary, I just like to rap," says Crooked I with a laugh. "This is just what we do, you know? It's a blessing. We like to get in the studio. We like to see how the fans trip off the new music. Feeding the streets is always necessary, no matter what. We might drop a mixtape right after the album."

Although the four draw inspiration from each other, there's no going head-to-head within the crew. "I wouldn't say it's a competition but we do play off each other though. Definitely," Ortiz admits.

Individuality is important to the four men. It's evident on everything from mixtapes to full-length albums.

"First of all I wanna thank you for acknowledging that we are four grown ass men," Ortiz states. "Secondly, we know what we need. We're four solo artists that formed a group, so it's a lot different when you talk about the dynamic. Basically what everybody's doing is bringing everybody to the table. We come together as Slaughterhouse but we're still individual artists."

With the upcoming release of their sophomore LP, due Aug. 28, The BoomBox had a moment to talk to Budden, Crooked I and Ortiz -- Royce was on a plane -- about five of their most memorable moments during the recording process. Welcome to their house.