Misc. Day – Jewel Runners

Run The Jewels is the hip-hop collective equivalent to peanut butter and jelly, mac and cheese, or bacon and eggs. The perfect combination between two MC’s, both Killer Mike and El-P, that lay down some dynamite tracks, bringing both electronic and classic hip-hop elements in a blend that just sounds perfect. The chemistry between Mike and El-P is like Batman and Robin, a truly dynamic duo, only this duo spits out bars about punching in faces, and taking over other MC’s spaces.

Run The Jewels II is obviously the second installment in the growing saga that is Run The Jewels. The destructive pair that is Killer Mike and El-P, both have had hip-hop careers in the past as solo artists, but after working together on Adult Swim’s Singles for The Summer, they soon found each other to work better as a team, rather than individually. Killer Mike with his thousand pound lyrics and with El-P’s outstanding production, the team together became some serious cats in the hip-hop game.

Following the release of Run The Jewels I, Run The Jewels II is a testament to the overpowering levels that two MC’s could achieve together. Run The Jewels II is eleven tracks long, each more booming in sound than the last. El-P’s production on this record is just some of the best I had heard and it was honestly a breath of fresh air to hear some electronic influence, along with the pounding and deep drums. Run The Jewels II just sounds like a warzone, the instant the album begins, Killer Mike is shouting “I’m Finna bang this bitch the Fuck Out!” its just the perfect send off into an album that is filled with violence, drugs, sex, and of course the raw authenticity of both Mike’s and El-P’s experiences with touring, the police, and the ups and inevitable downs as well.

The album also features a verse from the one and only Zack de la Rocha who is the poet/activist/singer from Rage Against the Machine. For anyone who has never heard RATM, imagine a much angrier John Lennon with a twist of Malcolm X in music form. Zack de la Rocha’s actual verse is like a full-fledged fist to the face, it is full of burned mansions, toe-tagging, and closed caskets. Rocha’s verse is actually one of the highlights of “Close Your Eyes and Count to Fuck,” it fits the breakneck speed of the beat, and it is just as frenzied and hazardous as Mike and El-P’s verses.

There is also a track, “All Due Respect” that features Travis Barker, which was another surprising addition as while he does not rap, he does have a hand in the production for this track. Barker did an amazing job as the beat switches up from a synth focused slowdown, to another fast paced almost march with the cymbals blasting along with the deep bass drum that creates such a great combination.

Run The Jewels II seems to be all about the synergy and what can be created from branching out to different artists and genres. Mike and El-P realized this with Run The Jewels I, and realized that the experimentation should not stop there.
I ended up loving Run The Jewels from the moment I heard Killer Mike spitting verses about Martin Luther King Jr., The gracefulness he portrays, and the line “Top of the morning, my fist to your face is fucking Foldgers. Mike and El-P’s chemistry makes for one of the most destructive duos in music history, and Run The Jewels II is a diamond in the mine of hip-hop.