Joell Christopher Ortiz is an American rapper and a former member of the group Slaughterhouse. Ortiz grew up in the Cooper Park Houses in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, formerly signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label. 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.
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. He released his debut album The Brick: Bodega Chronicles in 2007. Since then, he has released Free Agent, House Slippers and Monday. He is currently one half of the rap duo Crook and Joell with his former Slaughterhouse bandmate, Crooked I. Together, they released three studio albums.