Check your email cause they just sent out a link to download it.

.

dope.

I'm not complaining.

nm

nm

I don't wanna ruin it if she isn't.

It would be cool if she replaced the prerecorded backing vocals with backup singers but she's great. Her voice is fantastic and she's very engaging live.

Got out of bed to DL lol

There's a bunch of albums coming out that day.

overall is this isn't as good as the last one (which was my album of the year), but this is still fucking dope, I like everything on the first listen EXCEPT for the hook of "Love Again" and Gangsta Boo's verse, for me by far that is the worst song on the album, which is a shame because without those two things it would be cool.

Favorites so far:
Oh My Darling Don't Cry
Crown
Blockbuster Night Part 1

>Crown

My shit!!!

fucking amazing. I love when he raps about war/soldiers, he always does it so well

also my favorite tracks on this keep on changing, but Crown is definitely up there, dope album

https://twitter.com/therealelp/status/525520371613990912

Don't feel right listening to it now, gonna wait til I hit the gym tomorrow. I expect to set personal records with every lift.

By the way they've found a really good way to release their music. Make it free for everybody, and give special promotions, limited editions, deals to those who want to buy it. Makes it more appealing to support.

Work is gonna be a bitch tomorrow after staying up all night listening to this shit. 10 songs in and I'm loving every song so far except "Love Again" which is just ok and I know I'll skip past it after a few listens.

I wanna say those two are perfect songs.
Overall a very good and well-constructed album.

Its not so much that they are great (they are, not really my
point though) more than it is they are just so much more
professional and refined than anyone else.

The care they put into everything.

The subtle details.

The comfort in their musical tastes and skins.

Its just....kinda bugged out to hear.

Oh, and its time for El-P to get some Top 25 MC
arguments. This dude's spit is elite of elite.


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

the end

Every single part of the BM package is perfectly constructed...wish I could say the same about RTJ but I can't seem to get into their sound like that...

I bought an BM album cold turkey, thought it was cool
definitely didn't feel that way about it though

What should I listen to? The recent one seems to
be well regarded


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

No Poison No Paradise from last year
Glitches in the Break EP from this year
Hell Below this year

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

>
>Oh, and its time for El-P to get some Top 25 MC
>arguments. This dude's spit is elite of elite.

He's good. Elite? Just stop.

CoFlow
FanDam
Cold Vein
I'll Sleep When Your Dead
Cancer For Cure
RAP Music
RTJ
RTJ2

Obviously this isn't just the "top MC" argument I'm getting at here as he doesn't MC on every track some of these projects (though he is one of my fav MCs)....but thats a LOT of dope shit IMO, definitely one of the best discographies in hip hop for an MC/Producer IMO

>CoFlow
>FanDam
>Cold Vein
>I'll Sleep When Your Dead
>Cancer For Cure
>RAP Music
>RTJ
>RTJ2
>
>Obviously this isn't just the "top MC" argument I'm getting at
>here as he doesn't MC on every track some of these projects
>(though he is one of my fav MCs)....but thats a LOT of dope
>shit IMO, definitely one of the best discographies in hip hop
>for an MC/Producer IMO

I'm not saying slam dunk...I'm saying there's a top 25
argument in there somewhere

That's all I'm saying



----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

The Mars Volta

Nine Inch Nails

Slaughterhouse

Young Jeezy

Beck

TV on the Radio

Dizzee Rascal

Beck

Hot Hot Heat

Syd Matters

Prefuse 73

Cat Power

been knocking my "RAP music/cancer 4 cure/RTJ" playlist on shuffle for the past week.

they on some other other shit. niggas might catch up one day. might.

>been knocking my "RAP music/cancer 4 cure/RTJ" playlist on
>shuffle for the past week.
>
>they on some other other shit. niggas might catch up one day.
>might.

Like, this is what actual pros at this rap shit sound
like.

Like, these niggas wake up, have a routine, make a checklist,
execute it, use the right equipment, hire the right people,
the right mixers, edit properly, rehearse properly, adlib
properly

Its an almost perfect mix of organic/raw and
conceptualized/planned

This is the potential for the artform.

The message: be a pro.

I'm inspired.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

You still tried to leak a free album that had
already been released.

Lulllz


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Typical LEsson head.

And what does this have to do with gang activity?

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Was a Latin King or member of the Gotti family involved? Only El can answer that.

But Hip-Hop is stronger than your gang fetish

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

But I've enjoyed many a good stream from Pitchfork.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

.

: - )

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

and released an album on Fool's Gold/Adult Swim. People like OE really care about labels and who is in a rapper's audience. I'm just bringing it to his attention.

when you end up calling RTJ, two dudes that have individually been around for quite some time, "hipster rap" lmao

People spend way too much energy worrying about a rapper's audience demographics rather than the music itself.

He checks my opinion on everything before forming
one of his own

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

but Killer Mike's influence shouldn't be understated with the El-P recent resurgence. El-P usually takes several years to release new material. It seems the camaraderie and genuine friendship lit a fire under El-P's ass to inspire him to release new music much much more quickly.

BOTH are key.

NEITHER could do it without the other.

If anything, Killer Mike's persona and swagger drives
the message, which I think has made El-P even doper
on the mic


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Dude's been beasting for a decade.

Where would we be without whites?

I'm serious.


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

You really do sound like an old caucasian Southern lady praising Colin Powell though.
Don't let me exposing you stop you from checking out the Pledge series though. It might help you cling on to your remaining shreds of masculinity!

I'm serious

As in, an authentic one...with the authentic hug
at the end

You're like ole boy from Django Unchained, arming
us to revolt against the clutches of slavery


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Does the black part of the hand rub off when
you touch it?

Does it smell like coco butter?


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-RLCHcCjVcY/maxresdefault.jpg

Its a great feeling, supporting good artists

Try it sometime. Its a better way to make friends
with black people.

Here's another tip from a black guy: Killer Mike appreciates
my buying his last three (and buying tickets to his shows) to
your pirating everything he's ever owned (six months ago, when
you first heard of him). I mean, you don't even have the
decency to download RTJ2 legally.

Lullz.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

The Southern hate is still pretty strong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIqNjC1RKU

im VERY angry im just now giving this project a shot as its pretty much impossible to be lame

They should've left that off or something. Or made it bonus track and made Blockbuster Night Pt 2 with Despot and Wiki (of Ratking) an album cut.

I know they've recorded some more tracks. Anything would've been better than "Love Again".

But yea this album goes in. "Angel Duster" with the piano solo by Ikey (RIP) and that violin solo cotdamn.

and Killer's verse on the latter is dope as fuck

and then skip the rest. But yo the way El chops Boot's vocals on "Early" and the way he chops the Travis's drums and the vocal samples on All Due Respect are insane.

I just hope Run the Jewels 3 has a Yelawolf verse.

I like how sparse the beat is on Love Again. And I like the female energy as well. Not something you'd expect on this project and I think Gangsta Boo held her own lyrically on the song.

I'm mad as hell that I didn't check my email before I came to work. Sitting here mad as fuck! Bout to go home during my lunch break.

Can't download shit at work. But if I would've just checked my mail before I came in...

El-P over here updating his FD sound, while Mike like the T2 murdering rap verses

As expected....
Already spun it twice while working. Looking forward to tonight to jam on home system. And take in some pleasures that I can't partake in at work.

I bought the LP, a shirt & El-P hoodie from Daylight Curfew.
I bought a ticket to see them in November.
So don't think I'm not supporting, I just don't want to buy it again on iTunes for 1 track.

I got the shirt/CD coming in the mail, but need that track.....sounds dope on the preview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xe1W02CIU

????

http://www.theecho.com/event/678423-red-bull-sound-select-30-los-angeles/

Shit is working


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

.

I used to clean up in Philly, Bmore, even DC.

Could grind down the best of em.

Concerts?

If I went, I was getting in for face value or slightly over if I made the effort.

Sporting events?

I'd wait out the scalpers, reject original offers until the game had started and tell them 'the most important part of the game is the end, lemme know when u decide to cut your losses' and be getting into Eagles games at less than face value.

But LA?

I knew it was a wrap for shows when I first went up to Sunset for a sold-out Common House of Blues show when Be dropped and I was watching LA douchebags paying a hundred bucks to see Comm who I'd never paid more than $30 to see at that point and playing in a GA large club show.

These motherfuckas out here just don't care about how much money they spend.

Sporting events?

It don't matter if u wait past game time, most of these motherfuckas don't show up til way past that point anyway and will still hand over the money for the first price quote they get when walking up to the venue.

My man and I lined up some quality female companionship for Hall & Oates at the Greek this Sunday but I know if I don't find a deal online I'm gonna be looking at some rich gray hair and his wife paying double or triple price to get in while I'd be out there either mad & overpaying myself or looking like a cheap dude out there looking for a deal that's not available.

I Can't Go For That.......No Can Do......I.

These folks don't value money because they got too much of it.

They've played that place twice in the last year.

I'm going to catch the Pomona show

.

damn that's dope.

Vintage El-P

narcotic.

why w/o shame El-P is in my top 10 producers

I've had it on repeat since the show Saturday night. El-P's double time flow at the end of his first verse and Killer Mike's last verse on the song are remarkable.

Their sounds meshed even better on this one.

Hi

You on the other hand? You pirated an album that
El-P and Killer Mike wanted to give you for free.

The hipster rap conspiracy goes deeper than you even know and it's going to take somebody with 40,000 message board posts to unravel it!

All because Killer Mike's gang ties aren't strong
enough to earn a normal download.

You won't stop until every black rapper has a teardrop
tattoos on their face. Nice cause, bro.

You should be ashamed of yourself for misleading some young kid about his talent just cuz you think he's cute.

Just because Mike isn't gang affiliated enough for you.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

on his own Twitter. It's pretty dastardly on my part. Glad you love hipster rap though.

You leaked and pirated a free album.

All because Killer Mike isn't throwing up gang
signs.

Gimme a hug.


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

People like you (smelly nerds) and people like me
(sexy black studs)

They are change we can believe in.

Let's see if white people abandon ship after they
find out they aren't active members of the bloods


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

and know how special that day was for me too. Granted, it was 10 years ago but I didn't need El-P to cosign before I paid attention. Just be sure to check out his half dozen or so other tapes too. Dude has been an amazing rapper since day one. It'll def end your suspicion that El is writing Mike's rhymes.

It won't help. None of us like you, and no lies about
how much you like Killer Mike can do anything about it.

Sorry.

In the meantime, you can give up on nerd street credding
and just enjoy listening to an excellent album, like everyone
else with self esteem is doing.


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Just stop shitting on Mike. That dude's been too good to his supporters and too good an artist for your anime nerd troll bullshit.

So not really sure how Killer Mike could ever have been
very good at anything, really, rap being one of them,
without El-P.


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Not sure if that'll happen though.

You'd get all of your black love fetishes out in one
guy.

Weird part is how you won't purchase any of his music.

That's how you actually show how much you love black people.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

lol...

I like this even more than the first after a couple spins. Extremely dope.

.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

and Pharoahe Monche albums are up to snuff with RTJ2 IMO.

>and Pharoahe Monche albums are up to snuff with RTJ2 IMO.



----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

is slightly ahead for me

excited.

V.

V.

Didn't know it was out with physical copies, but I didn't ask questions.
__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

Weird to think El-P and Beyonce are working with the same people.

Boots, the producer whose work on Beyoncé’s surprise album made him an instant star last winter, had been talking about working with El for a long time before he contributed ominous magnificent sonic swirl to “Early.” “Boots and I had been friends for a couple years,” El recalls. “Before he did the Beyoncé thing, him and me were talking about doing some music together. I went on tour, and when I came back he was Beyoncé’s producer. So it was pretty incredible. But yeah, we had never really stayed out of touch.”

will DL today.

occupied by Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back, Fantastic Volume II & the '95 Rockets.

>occupied by Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back, Fantastic
>Volume II & the '95 Rockets.

Yessir! It was equaling out to me at first then them last two tracks just clearly made it a better album than the first IMO.

Only had the chance to listen to it all the way through once yesterday. Gave a few other tracks an extra spin, but I need to play it all the way through for another week or so to see how it sits.

Better than Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1)

The tape with Beatking is fun as shit too.

Beatking is fucking hysterical.

not sure if i can say it's better than the last album, but it's damn good. looking forward to meow the jewels too

Just enough from just hard rap

are that the beats are much more diverse compared to the first Run The Jewels. That's more impressive to me given the short turnaround time from the first Run The Jewels.

Felt, Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet vs. Run the Jewels 2?

Both are great sequels. I love Felt, Vol 2 though. Although, two completely different albums.

I was lukewarm on that last one...beats were super generic imo, and I just can't get into a whole album of braggadocio anymore...

but THIS one, to me, is worthy of all the praise the last one got.

like oe said above, the quality of this music is well above anything else coming out right now. and that includes recent tde releases.

for me, this is the best thing going in rap at the moment.

if kanye/hov/drake/etc spit half as well as these two are, folks would be soiling their levis while throwing around the goat card.

It's not like dude hasn't been destroying shit for years already.

But his output wasn't as frequent as it has been lately, and the beats weren't up to scratch. His partnership with El-P has been the best thing that could have happened to him, and it's great to finally see him getting the shine that he deserves.

And I'm so happy he gave up on being called Mike Bigga.

this or R.A.P. are def his best produced projects. However. he was rapping at this level (maybe better) on those Pledge tapes though. Boom bap purists in the 00s just refused to acknowledge him because he wasn't criticizing other Southern rappers.

My initial thought is you guys are going way overboard with the praise.

And the content...man...I'll come back later.

but I've never really been into them like that anyways so...

in them

I'm kind of flabbergasted at that

but Mike, Boo and the beat slaps

Not that it makes it a bad song, but it can be jarring as a fan at first.
We're used to them on more of a social political vibe, not pussy jamz.

Shit slaps though. Mike and Boo ripped it.

Although probably not as blunt

.

but that one too.

The language isn't as direct as "she wants that dick in her mouth all day", but it's definitely nasty.

>Although probably not as blunt

Yeah they're not used to it that raw and uncut

That's versatility personified

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

fits great on the album, for me.

gangsta boo was the perfect foil for that song too.

But this is a great album and definitely better than the first....

Id push your grandfather down a flight of steps for a Zach De La Rocha album produced entirely by El P...


Cocaine Pinata still the album of the year though

I love Piñata, but I think this is better

Madlib's beats alone can't make it rap album of the year b.

slow down there chief Ratking no better than the Pinata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAWzCmkJqpc

As one who gets stopped and frisked a lot in Manhatt, I love this track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltHrNYhzoQA

than Freddie Gibbs.

truth…and it's not close….

.

Both are excellent

>But this is a great album and definitely better than the
>first....
>
>Id push your grandfather down a flight of steps for a Zach De
>La Rocha album produced entirely by El P...
>

yo Zach snapped on that joint yo...

The album is so mean....

definitely a black hoodie and timbs album

what the hell you running your mouth about

This is one of the few instances where the over the top praise is applicable...usually yall hype up something and it doesn't live up..not here.

Its not just on here Foh wit ur bs.

I couldn't believe you would type some idiotic shit like that.

Do better

i thought that it might be, but DAMN!

everyone stepped it up.

After more spins

I don't understand why it has far more replies and an anchor.

Oddisee has always had a bigger fanbase on here.

first he was a Dilla knock off

then they loved him for Tronic

and when AOTY was ehh, they jumped ship again

shitted on Random Axe for no reason

and ignored NPNP and Glitches

Tronic

Glitches in the Break

No Poison, No Paradise

Album of the Year

Popular Demand

Haven't heard sound of the city

1A. Tronic @@@@@, i doubt he ever really tops this, and that's ok
1B. No Poison, No Paradise @@@@.75
3. If There Is A Hell Below @@@@ (after one full listen)
4. Glitches in the Break @@@ 1/2
5. Album of the Year (i'm gunna revisit it soon. it came and went for me)
6. Popular Demand, it was too Dilla/SV for me at the time. I should revisit this too

-Haven't heard sound of the city
^^^ me neither

Man...knockin this "Glitches in the Break" joint right now...wow...kinda slept on listening to it. Great producer, good MC.

1A. Tronic @@@@@, i doubt he ever really tops this, and that's ok
1B. No Poison, No Paradise @@@@.75
3. If There Is A Hell Below @@@@ (after one full listen)
4. Glitches in the Break @@@ 1/2
5. Album of the Year (i'm gunna revisit it soon. it came and went for me)
6. Popular Demand, it was too Dilla/SV for me at the time. I should revisit this too

If I recall right the year i did the Lesson albums of the year he was either #1 overall or #1 hip-hop.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

.

Just wish EL-P would've teamed up w/ Aesop Rock instead

The first RTJ isn't memorable at all & the only tracks I dug on this one were Jeopardy, Crown & Angel Duster

He's gonna have to drop a damn near classic to win me back, both were snoozers to me.

just a really dumb thing to say. call THAT ALBUM a snoozer

i swear some of yall were raised wrong

>He's gonna have to drop a damn near classic to win me back,
>both were snoozers to me.

I also believe their highest rated album of the year. Which is probably going to translate to a nice paycheck on the festival/concert circuit for the near future; well desrved.

http://www.spin.com/articles/spin-album-week-run-the-jewels-2/?utm_source=spintwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spintwitter

http://www.stereogum.com/1714917/album-of-the-week-run-the-jewels-rtj2/franchises/album-of-the-week/

>I also believe their highest rated album of the year. Which
>is probably going to translate to a nice paycheck on the
>festival/concert circuit for the near future; well desrved.

no hyperbole here.
RTJ run this.
the end.

V.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

Not even "Crown" and "Angel Duster"?

the beats are hard, they fit well with the rapping. but they have very little dirt. i like dirty beats.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

nah b

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

surpassed Pinata...

Run The Jewels 2 somehow was able to be better than the original Run The Jewels...

Meow The Jewels might make my top 10...these guys can do no wrong...

No doubt about that. And I'm talking about regardless of genre.

>surpassed Pinata...
>
>Run The Jewels 2 somehow was able to be better than the
>original Run The Jewels...
>
>Meow The Jewels might make my top 10...these guys can do no
>wrong...

...Beasty...good GOD...

This album is infectious and is a personification of why I fell in love with hip-hop. Gotdamn, Mike spazzed on here!

>This album is infectious and is a personification of why I
>fell in love with hip-hop.

For real. Like, I'm reliving some of the giddiness I felt when I first discovered hip hop.

Is it the beats?

cause Joey n em is killin these dudes mic wise



but im banned tho.
____________

Dallas Cavericks LETS GO!!

and royce, joell, etc are great rappers

but im banned tho.
____________

Dallas Cavericks LETS GO!!

How two 39-year-old rap underdogs combined vulgarity, politics, and cartoons in order to become one of the hottest hip-hop duos in America

BY David Drake
OCTOBER 29, 2014

Inside the two-story main cabin on board the S.S. Tyrannic—ringing the balcony, posted up the staircase, packed onto the first floor—a crowd of young men and women are clad in spandex suits and masks, beards and wigs, capes and facepaint. One guy carries a huge spear. They shout along to the music, hands chopping through air. A man with a quiver of arrows slung across his back shifts his longbow to make way for an oversized milkshake dancing his way through the balcony. It's the weekend of Comic Con in New York, and the party is in full swing on Adult Swim's three-hour tour up to the George Washington Bridge, then down to the Statue of Liberty.

Right at the center of this torrent of costumed insanity, Jaime "El-P" Meline, in denim and a fitted New York Yankees cap, stands next to "Killer" Mike Render, in all black, on a small patch of hardwood. "We came dressed as Run the Jewels," El jokes. Behind them, their DJ wears a hat that reads "Business as Usual," a reference to classic New York hip-hop duo EPMD. And within the large audience of comic book fans, nerds, cosplay enthusiasts, and cartoon aficionados pressed around the pair, there are many young men who know each song by heart, and shout out every lyric.

It's October 2014 and, in the upside-down free-for-all that is modern popular music, one of the hottest hip-hop duos in the United States is made up of a pair of 39-year-olds who've banked off interstitial cartoon music for a rare late-period career renaissance. Not even a second wind, really—maybe a third or fourth. These two are no strangers to critical acclaim, but it's been years since either artist received as much popular attention as they have since officially joining forces last year. "Something special's happening,” El tells me before the boat ride. “There's so much energy, it's ridiculous—me and Mike have tapped into something crazy."

Run the Jewels are on the S.S. Tyrannic at the behest of Adult Swim, the fiercely irreverent late-night programming block on Cartoon Network that has played no small role in the group's success. Although the duo's new album, Run the Jewels 2, was released this week through Mass Appeal Records—a new independent label co-founded by Nas—Adult Swim has in many ways been the group's primary patron. The company has not only provided up-front funding, but actually introduced the two rappers, and has consistently promoted their work to a large audience outside of the music industry’s typical outlets.

Run the Jewels upward momentum owes a considerable debt to one man in particular: Jason DeMarco, the Vice President and Creative Director of On-Air for Adult Swim. Prior to the group's performance, he's greeted by an unending line of well-wishers and friends; as many people seem interesting in speaking with him as with the artists themselves. "El and Mike have had heights they've achieved," he says once the line has shortened. "But right now, Run the Jewels is as big as either of them has ever been on their own." This comes with an obvious disclaimer: He's invested in the group's success. But he's either utterly convincing when working the refs, or simply genuine. Forthright and magnanimous, DeMarco explains his role as that of an eager fan—largely because that's exactly what he is.

He first met Killer Mike when he needed a last-minute contribution to the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” soundtrack in 2007. At the time, Mike was operating at a creative peak in a commercial downturn, recording what would become 2008's I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II. His career began in the early 2000s with conspicuous high water marks—a verse on Bonecrusher's crunk anthem "Never Scared", another on OutKast's smash single "The Whole World". Signed to OutKast's Purple Ribbon imprint, Mike found his opportunities disintegrating when André 3000 departed, leaving Big Boi to manage the roster on his own. "I was very hurt when André up and left," Mike admits.

But by 2008, Mike's independent music felt like a substantial, urgent force in an Atlanta scene driving hip-hop's broader conversation. His records had an expansive sound that fit snugly alongside established Atlanta stars like T.I. and Young Jeezy. But where T.I.'s music was often implicitly political, Mike—who references Ice Cube's scathing George H.W. Bush-era touchstone AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted as an ideal model—weaved his street stories with an unabashedly explicit political conscience. Most importantly, his pointed rhymes felt organic—a natural extension of the principled rapper's intelligence and shoot-from-the-hip personality.

Unfortunately, this creative outpour occurred in an era when record sales were rapidly dwindling. "Those Pledge records did good for me and they’re the foundation that this Killer Mike is built on,” he says, “but I was judging myself on physical sales and didn't understand that music sales were declining overall." With the industry falling apart, he was ready for retirement. "I was disappointed because I felt like I had spent a career working to still be viewed as a protégé," he recalls. "So I said, 'Fuck this shit. I'm gonna join the church.'"

"We drink Hennessy and smoke marijuana," Mike says when asked about how he prepares for a show now. Run the Jewels are wedged into a small private room on the S.S. Tyrannic’s second floor, just before taking the stage. Seated beside Mike is his wife, Shana, with whom he opened a barbershop in 2011—one of several entrepreneurial moves he'd made, along with voice acting for the Adult Swim program “Frisky Dingo”, as he felt his career drying up. Sitting across the narrow cabin is El-P, who says he'd considered giving up as well. "It occurred to me in a moment of being exhausted," says El, speaking of his long career not just as an artist but as a label owner. "And I wasn’t just exhausted for the week or the day or the year, it was like, holy shit, 10-years-exhausted."

As much as the end of the 2000s seemed to spell the end for Mike's career, Definitive Jux—the indie label El-P founded in 1999 as an alternative to the then-ubiquitous major label system—was in the process of breaking up, increasing his stress. But music was the last thing he'd leave behind. "The thing that saved me was that I never fell out of love with making music,” he says. “So I just threw myself into that and said ‘fuck everything else,’ and all sorts of good shit started happening." Not that he had many options. "I didn't graduate high school, you know—I'm gonna have to be a rapper for awhile."

When his solo debut, Fantastic Damage, was released in 2002, El-P and Def Jux were the toast of hip-hop publications coast to coast—even if, like many indie labels, their sales only peaked in the five figures. This was an era when commercial hip-hop had substantial aesthetic breadth: With any move an independent artist made, the marketplace could respond in kind, either co-opting the artist (El-P and Eminem both placed songs on onetime indie hip-hop bellwether Rawkus' Soundbombing II compilation before the latter took off for the pop stratosphere) or finding a grander gesture to eclipse it. (Was there an independent rapper with as much manic star power as Busta Rhymes or an independent producer with Timbaland's chops?) Hip-hop's future was pop music's future, too.

In contrast to the aesthetic idealism of the mid-'90s underground, Def Jux explicitly took a stance not against mainstream music—Clipse's "Grindin'" was a live concert staple for El's DJ in 2002—but against its business model; all artists were promised an even split on royalties. Nonetheless, El's music was heavily influenced by his nonconformist inclinations, his production approach eschewing traditional underground East Coast styles. To El-P, the formula is pretty simple: "I was trying to make EPMD records, but apparently I'm too weird and it just came out as this other sound.”

Influenced by '80s hip-hop and film soundtracks, he blended his nervous grooves with robotic textures and a general ominousness. ("i swear to god i could make a beat with a banjo and a church organ only and someone will call it 'dystopian sci fi'," El once tweeted.) His music also offered a particularly confrontational, masculine brand of righteous political anger, a distrust of the system and the compromises it extracts in exchange. A record on his debut describing his upbringing in Koch-era New York, for example, is titled "Squeegee Man Shooting", its centerpiece lyric about a police-involved killing complicating its nostalgic frame.

Def Jux certainly wasn't the only independent label of the era, but it was the most press-savvy of the bunch, intentionally or otherwise. The label appealed to a trend-conscious audience, and give or take a few regrettable branding decisions (circa 2003 merch included Def Jux trucker hats, and they momentarily joined forces with alt-pornography site SuicideGirls), to a certain subset of young men invested in hip-hop in 2002—including this writer—it seemed like the only one that mattered.

Another devout Def Jux disciple was Adult Swim's Jason DeMarco. "After Fantastic Damage, I just followed him forever," he says. In 2007, DeMarco started Williams Street Records, a company that would release all music from Adult Swim's properties. One of the first projects they worked on was El's "Flyentology" music video. "From there, El and I realized we were very similar people with very similar backgrounds,” DeMarco says. “We became friends."

El continued to work with DeMarco and Adult Swim, remixing Young Jeezy for a project called ATL RMX in 2009. "When El was making that track, he told me, 'No one ever thinks of me to work with these Southern MCs, but I want to work with everybody,'" DeMarco recalls. "So I said, 'Would you be willing to come down and get in the studio with Mike for a day, we'll fly you out and just see what happens?' He said, 'Yeah, why not. Fuck it.' And within an hour of meeting each other, they were both high and laughing, and I just left. I came back a couple of hours later, and they had three songs."

After El returned to New York to work on his 2012 album Cancer for Cure, it was Mike—a fan of El's since hearing his ‘90s group Company Flow—who insisted they return to the studio. "Mike and I bugged the shit out of him until he agreed to do it,” DeMarco recalls. Backed by Adult Swim's weight, Mike 2012 album R.A.P. Music—produced entirely by El-P—was critically well-received; the duo's partnership had begun in earnest.

Run the Jewels 2 is the sequel to the pair's spontaneous debut, which was recorded in a month and released last summer. "With the first record, we didn't have any grand plans,” says El. “We didn't know what the future held.” Leading up to that album, El-P and Mike's audience skewed older—many of their fans had followed the rappers for years. But as their partnership took hold, with El and Mike bringing out the most vicious and immediate version of each other, their audience seemed to snowball—and get younger.

Of course, this is partly thanks to their exposure via Adult Swim, which attracts about 1.5 million viewers on weeknights, many of them college-age men. "El has told me that when he goes anywhere, people now tell him, 'I first heard your music on Adult Swim and had to look it up, and then I discovered Run the Jewels,’” DeMarco says. “I don't think we're responsible for El's success, but I do think his music being on television every single night doesn't hurt."

Two almost-40-year-old rappers making music that resonates with a young audience is no small feat, even with Adult Swim's metaphorical megaphone. Nonetheless, both artists can't help but indulge in a bit of wishful thinking about what might have been had they joined forces much earlier. It also points to why their success isn't merely a matter of marketing, but a result of undeniable interpersonal chemistry—which most often manifests in free-associative riffs. For example:

Mike: If I'd met El earlier, we could have changed the face of music by this point, but he always says it wasn't supposed to happen.

El: It wasn't. We had to go through all the shit...

Mike: In 2003, if I could have made something to rival AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, we'd be 50 Cent rich! We'd be broken up by now! We'd hate each other! (laughs, high fives)

El: Fuck you! Separate chefs! (laughs)

Their personal relationship is intertwined with the music: a blend of humor and principled aggression, coupled with the general impression that they're simply good people. Also not to be underrated is their career-long consistency. El's production remains one of the sharpest tools in Run the Jewel's kit, idiosyncratic but functional, the gradual refinement of an evolving artist. "The thing I love about music is, if you do it long enough, you get better and better at translating what's in your head to a medium,” says El. “That's why I keep doing it.”

This consistency is a feature, not a bug. "Not only have they picked up a new audience entirely, they've also never lost their original audience," suggests DeMarco. "That makes people want to root for them—because they're just doing it the right way and they seem to be having fun doing it." Fun is also what enables the group's politics to flower without consuming the whole.

As writers, they've continued to push themselves, rapping with studiously dense internal rhymes, a baroque, wordy style that has the muscular punch of a comic book; somewhat juvenile and often over-the-top, it helps explain their appeal to young Adult Swim viewers: "I Jake the Snake 'em, DDT 'em in mausoleums/ Macabre massacres, killin cunts in my coliseum!" Killer Mike is direct and explosive; El more impressionistic. Both dig the comic potential of vulgarity; "Love Again (Akinyele Back)" is a tribute to the sex rap of 2 Live Crew and ‘90s MC Akinyele, of "Put It in Your Mouth" fame.

But it’s not all about glorious pulp punchlines. Their strategy for Run the Jewels 2 was an intensified version of the first record. "We wanted it to be meaner and darker, and say things close to our hearts," El says. The laser-focused “Early” features a police-shooting narrative from Mike, who has recently spoken out on the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson. And the most compelling moment on the record is "Crown", a song that complicates the group's usual point of view, as Mike confronts the regrets of his past—the moral compromises he felt he needed to make. "I carry around a lot of guilt,” says the father of four. “I sold drugs and I was successful at it. If you have any type of humanity or morality, that's going to fuck with you the rest of your life." On the song, he raps about selling drugs to a pregnant woman—a character based upon a composite of two women he'd known in his real life. "The child that I rapped about is not mentally disabled for real,” he says, “but I needed to add a weight of gravity and the sum of my fears."

Mike had struggled to finish the track, getting caught up at its conclusion. "I would get to a point and just get so fucking sad,” he says. “Then my wife reminded me that one of my grandma's favorite records was 'Lay My Burden Down', a negro spiritual. That's what my grandmother had tried to get me to understand my whole life: put your responsibilities to other people and your worry and your shame down. As humans, we carry our hurt and guilt, and until we put all that shit down, we can't pick it up.

"People don't accredit Killer Mike and El-P with having the humanity that we do,” he continues. “They don't understand that the darkness and the anger that we rap about comes from a place of love, care, and concern. Everything about that song is just so human. You can't turn away from it."

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/9532-run-the-jewels-last-rappers-standing/

Check Mike & El's instagram, as well as Mass Appeal.
I think they've only done 3 or 4 shows. Crowds are HUGE compared to their tour in Summer '13.

With the other dates being close to sold out.

It's a Wednesday night. And I have to drive almost 3 hours.
Wasn't going to miss it though.

They performed for only an hour. They did announced that Gangsta Boo will be at the show tonight at the Echo in LA, I have a feeling Zack will also show up

Zack, Travis Barker, Gangsta Boo, Z-Trip & DJ Quik all came on at certain points.

I'm wild jealous.

I really want to know about the NYC show cause El-P said it's gonna be an insane show.

do Tough Cold Killer live, I'll leave that venue a very happy man. Anything else would be gravy. I hope I get a chance to yell out the song as a request if they don't plan that on the set list.

Looking at set lists they've done it every show.

Also, when I saw them the same day as Outkast and Ratking at Governors Ball back in June they did it.

is that Despot is going to be a guaranteed guest artist for the NYC show, so I get to hear his superb verses as well. Sometimes it pays to live in this filthy, anti-social city.

I do wonder what treats are in store for the NYC show though, since a lot of the guests on RTJ2 don't live in NYC. But like I said earlier, seeing Tough Cold Killer is enough for me.

El said it's the last stop on the tour for a reason.

https://twitter.com/therealelp/status/524278399515525120

Also, when Despot came out and did his verse for TCK at Gov Ball, everyone went wild

They did on the first RTJ tour. And they did during first El-P/Killer Mike tour. Can't see why they would skip it this time around.

the biggest Kool-Aide grin at my workdesk like a moron just now. Sounds like it'll be a great show.

Thurz was dope with a full band and bringing out Quik at the end to perform "Tonite". Mystery Skulls was more like mystery why you are on the damn bill. That was time to go outside, grab a drink, hit the merch desk, etc. RTJ2 absolutely killed it Mike & El P really know how to MC live. Travis Barker, Gangsta Boo, Despot & Zack just added to the special night.

Damn, looks like LA got all the special guests. Hopefully some can take the one hour plane ride. But I doubt it.

and now it's sold out, of course!

Fortunately he has a hook-up.

My other homie is going (I bought tickets for him and his brother), but last night he was saying that tickets were still available, and his wife wants to go too. I was like, "I'm pretty sure it's sold out..."

have you been to the mezzanine before? is it small?

i caught el-p and killer mike at the regency ballroom a couple years back--that venue was pretty big.

mezzanine looks smaller, judging by the online pics at least. i thought a bigger venue might book em, given their buzz.

in any regard, i'm glad they're selling out their shows! dudes deserve all the success they're getting.

and have fun! i bet the show is gonna be wild.

>have you been to the mezzanine before? is it small?

Lots of times. Saw El-P on his ISWYD tour there. Saw Foreign Exchange's "Authenticity" tour there. Plus a whole bunch of random shows over the years.

I wouldn't say that it's "small". It's definitely bigger than The Independent, which is where I saw the first Run the Jewels tour last year.

>i caught el-p and killer mike at the regency ballroom a couple
>years back--that venue was pretty big.

That was the "R.A.P. Music"/"Cancer 4 Cure" tour, right? Yeah, I missed that one. But yeah, the Regency is much bigger. Much bigger floor and upstaris area.

>and have fun! i bet the show is gonna be wild.

Should be off the fucking chain. Can't wait.

came onstage to introduce them.

I looked up her tweets to see if this shit was true and yea it was.

According to one of her tweets, she said it was one of the greatest shows she's seen in years.

“Like, who really run this?
Like, who really run that man that say he run this?
Who, who really run that man that say he run this, run run run run this?
Like, who really fund this?
Like, who really fund who say he fund this?
Like, who in the world gon’ tell Donald Sterl who to put on the ‘you can’t come’ list?”

Solidified it for me.

I slept hard on it...

After the indictment decision and Killer Mike's speech to the crowd... I went back to it...

And it finally hit me.

Great chemistry. Amazing both guys were solo artists for so long. Stellar show and full of energy. Anyone going to tonight's show? One the one hand, it's a great way to end the weekend, but on the other hand, I feel sorry for folks that have to wake up Monday morning and drag themselves to work. I'm still recuperating from the screaming and jumping around I did last night.

And Despot needs to drop that solo album.

I would pay a show to see Despot ab-lib and describe his songs. Dude is fucking hilarious.

I would pay a show to see Despot ab-lib and describe his songs. Dude is fucking hilarious.

Also, Gangsta Boo coming out to do her verse on "Love Again"...

>I would pay a show to see Despot ab-lib and describe his
>songs. Dude is fucking hilarious.

I wonder how big he could become because it appears dude has some personality in addition to the mic skills. That aerobics bit he had as crowd participation was pretty funny.

>Also, Gangsta Boo coming out to do her verse on "Love
>Again"...

I think both El and Killer Mike were taken back when she squatted down and turned around to bend over as she was doing her verse. I really do like how she did on the track and was able to provide some female presence on that record, since it is so masculine driven.


Given how short a time the two have performed together relative to how long they've both been solo artists, I'm still amazed at how great their chemistry is, especially on stage.

These Run The Jewels folk are on to something...got to meet Killer Mike after the show...

http://youtu.be/G-S9mtYowPY

Digging the visuals on this. I wish they would make a video for every song on this album.