Run the Jewels albums

2013

RUN THE JEWELS – 95%

El-P and Killer Mike’s Run the Jewels debut is as close to a perfect rap album as the decade has produced. They make it seem effortless and fun on every song, which is harder to do than it might seem. It is seriously one of the most “alive” records I have ever heard in my life; it bursts with the joy of music with opener “Run the Jewels”, displaying their vulgar but vibrant sound. They make fun of fake rappers with their mocking “36 Inch Chain” and kill you with their flow on the hard rocking “Judgment” and “No Come Down”. Tracks like “Sea Legs” blend all of this together in a cathartic release, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, both El-p and Killer Mike rap on each song EQUALLY making this a true rap team. The guest stars are not very frequent but when they are there (Big Boi on “Banana Clip” or Prince Paul on “Twin Hype”) they blend in to the overall flow.

There is almost no pause, it’s a nonstop hardcore hip-hop thrill ride, but it does ebb and flow very well between flat out rockers and more relaxed tracks, all the way to closer “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”, a flat-out perfect M.C. duet full of more passion and knowledge than most rappers have in their entire careers. The fact that El-P and Killer Mike both had really good releases just the year before this is something to take note of (Cancer for the Cure and R.A.P. Muic, respectively) and their idea to collaborate created one of the best rap duo records since Tribe Called Quest or Black Star. I can only hope the future leads to more flawless collaborations like this, but they only will if we keep celebrating the ones they give us and raise them far above the other albums of their time. El-P keep on making those alien beats and Killer Mike keep killin’ those microphones.

Best Tracks: A Christmas Fucking Miracle, Run the Jewels, Sea Legs, Get It

2014

RTJ2 – 93%

There are very few instant classics released these days, but it’s pretty safe to say that within the first month RTJ2 came out it went to instant classic status very fast. Improving on a lot of the rough edges of the debut and gaining a wider variety of sounds, RTJ2 showed how to expand upon their sound without losing an inch. The points they make are grand: believe in yourself, prisons are the worst, sex is hilarious, we are great MC’s. The beats they rock are inspired: alien noises in the background (the 1969 Joe Byrd and the Metaphysical Circus sampling “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” (yeah I researched that one), and the moving ballad “Early”), huge bass ( the pounding “Blockbuster Night”, the jovial “All My Life”), doom and gloom (“Crown” which is one of their most poignant songs ever, as is Zack De La Rocka’s cameo and repeating verse on “Close Your Eyes” which has to be heard to be truly experienced).

Some tracks are acquired tastes, such as the crude but funny “Love Again”, and the spaced out opener “Jeopardy” which is probably my least favorite song. Still, it all blends very well together, and while it may not be as consistent as the debut album, the fact that it is more diverse in styles and more ambitious plays in its favor when compared to other hip hop releases of the year. El-P earns his mantle in my opinion as the Brian Eno of Hip Hop, with mind blowing producer skills. It’s an evil little stew and everywhere you look and listen you hear genius lyrics slammed down by El-P on “All My Life” (“sharp like knife/bet a buck i’m stuck in the guts of the night”) and Killer Mike on “Lie Cheat Steal” (“like who really run this? Like who really run who say they run this?”), proving without a doubt that this is an act that will last the test of time. It’s easy to talk a bunch about a record that works on so many levels, and hopefully the rest of hip hop can take notice.

Best Tracks: Crown, Close Your Eyes, Oh My Darling Don’t Cry, All My Life

2016

RUN THE JEWELS 3 – 86%

Just because a band is repetitive in what they do doesn’t mean they can’t be consistently great. Killer Mike and El-p’s RTJ attempted to branch out of their hardcore hip-hop shell with their third album, expanded everything from production quality (“Hey Kids” with a Danny Brown cameo, “Thursday in the Danger Room” which harks back to El-P’s 2007’s record I’ll Sleep When Your Dead with its emotional presence) to the length of the record at fifteen songs, the themes and topics they covered (the last song is actually two songs in one). Even if the lyrics are not quite as personal as the previous two attempts, RTJ still use the considerable influenced they have to entertain while being topical (“Don’t Get Captured”, “Talk To Me”).

The idea mostly worked, though I think everyone who loves this album will find themselves skipping around from song to song more then on previous records. For me, “Oh Mama” and “A Report to Shareholders” are pretty irrelevant. Still, “Stay Gold” is the most accessible thing that they have done, “Legend Has It” and “Down” are easily new classics, and “Call Ticketron” and “Thieves” are songs that point to a very interesting future. What matters is the things we have come to expect from Run the Jewels – hard hitting deliveries, deep-space background beats, universal appeal, juvenile humor, and innovative rapping wordsmithery – is still present on the bands third record. How many other Rap duo’s around can say the same thing?

Best Tracks: Legend Has It, Stay Gold, Thursday in the Danger Room, Down

2020

RTJ 4 – 80%

On Run the Jewels 4, perhaps the most surprising and popular independent rap group of the last decade return in a very rough time in our country with another dose of their political and fun hip hop music. The great news is RTJ4 does not sink under expectations after a 3 and a half year wait between albums, and expands the groups sound even further. Much of the production is retro, marking a change from rapper El-P’s usual alien and abstract noise making. Opener “Yankee and the Brave” has dissonance in the music for sure but makes a sort of driving anthem for the rapper’s returning with the same kind of music and a revamped sound. The following single ready tunes such as “Ohh La La” and “Out of Sight” are very catchy and pleasant while also being hard hitting. RTJ have defined such a unique blend of sound effects by now that listening to a 3 minute song can easily be a summation of every sound rock and rap music have made up do this point, again a product of the genius production of El-P.

Killer Mike has the job of being a spokesperson for our generation, and he does not fail on that account. Always insightful and robust, Mike preaches for previous black men slain in our recent times while also more relevant lyrics then he planned with lines like “you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me/ until my voice goes from a shriek to whisper I can’t breathe” on the Gangsta Boo staring “Walking in the Snow”. His flow retains the vanguard of old school southern rap while also being socially relvant, best displayed on the impeccable raps of ”Never Look Back” and “The Ground Below”, some of the best songs they have done to date, both are singalongs that also manage to be danceable.

    On the more experimental front, “Holy Camalafuck” changes pace half way through into a slower more effective rap trade off. Closer “For the Firing Squad” is musically the longest and also weakest track, trying to be a summation of their entire career so far. “Goonies vs. E.T.” make the group more nostalgic than usual, as a constant comparison between the 1980’s and now. While I applaud the group for messing with song structures here and there, the straight ahead single ready tunes fare far better on RTJ 4. There are more guest stars than usual, with 2 Chains and Pharrell being the most effective cameos, followed by an always reliable Zack DeLa Rocha on the banging and chaotic trap-rap of “Ju$t” (it is slightly disheartening to hear RTJ submit to modern cliches, even though they perform them well).

    El-P and Killer Mike never let society off the hook, they always have something relevant to say. And after all these years these guys have been at it (since the mid 1990’s in some form) it’s a wonder they can make a cohesive record. But their they do yet again, and their obsession with the artform is noticeable and appreciated. Some groups aren’t supposed to evolve, they just give you more of the same with each release, and with results this engaging I hope RTJ stays around forever making great albums.

    Keeping the album short was a great idea, as the previous record RTJ3 ran a little long for its own good; also remember a lot of these songs are many melodic ideas in one. Im sure the record will continue to grow on me in the next couple months.