Run the Jewels is a musical duo, consisting of two members as
is the case with most duos. Its two
members are Michael Myers the killer and 70s prog rock band, Emerson, Lake and
Palmer (ELP). They play a brand of music called “hop hip”. It involves lots of “wrapping”
and “beats” and I'm going to give this album zero stars…
JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!1111
Run the Jewels is a brand new hip hop duo consisting of
Killer Mike and El-P, two rappers who each brought out fantastic albums last
year. There's been some really interesting, experimental, forward-thinking hip
hop coming out in the last year or two: acts like Kid Cudi, Death Grips, Chance
the Rapper, Odd Future, Billy Woods and Kendrick Lamar. I could go on
name-dropping but I won’t bore you with my vast musical knowledge. It would be
arrogant of me and arrogance really isn't my thing (In fact, I'm so damn modest
that I impress myself sometimes. GOD, WHY AM I SO MODEST???).
Anyhow, the point is that hip hop has definitely been receiving a boom in quality recently. Instrumentation seems to be getting more adventurous, lyrical content seems to be getting more varied and rappers seem to evolving their own styles as opposed to mimicking their idols. Personally, no hip hop album so far in the last two years has
struck me as flawless. Until now.
Killer Mike and EL-P it seems have made a record that pushes
my every button. The flows are tight as a drum. The lyrics are gritty but
devoid of excessive shock value, witty but not too serious, occasionally deep but not preachy. The
beats meanwhile take influence from trap music - the masterful work of EL-P:
simplistic, hard-hitting, sample-free and perfectly polished.
I cannot get
enough of this album. Buy this record. DO IT NOW!
★★★★★
TRACK TASTER:
TRACK TASTER: