{"id":2542,"date":"2014-11-13T12:57:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T17:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=2542"},"modified":"2014-11-21T09:56:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T14:56:01","slug":"run-the-jewels-rtj2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/run-the-jewels-rtj2\/","title":{"rendered":"Run the Jewels <br>RTJ2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Run_The_Jewels-RTJ2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2543\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Run_The_Jewels-RTJ2.jpg\" alt=\"Run the Jewels, RTJ2\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Run_The_Jewels-RTJ2.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Run_The_Jewels-RTJ2-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>On <i>RTJ2<\/i>, El-P and Killer Mike, a.k.a. Run the Jewels, show that just because your tracks are bouncin\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean your rhymes can\u2019t be heavy and hard. It\u2019s heartening and electrifying to hear a couple of guys going all in on actual rapping even though they could have just relied on El-P\u2019s production and a record full of dick jokes to net reliable festival hits. This is 40 minutes of brutal battle raps and a sick sense of humor that is revealed through epiphanic rhyme skills. The pair seems intent on making sure that every single line is worth quoting on your Twitter feed and memorizing to impress your friends. Not since Aesop Rock\u2019s \u201cSave Yourself\u201d has a rapper going double-time (El-P on \u201cLie, Cheat, Steal\u201d) inspired so much adrenaline. And that\u2019s just one of the four different times that one song jumps the tracks, transforming into an entirely different beast. Are they showing off? Of course they are. You would too if you were having this much fun.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of fun, I could write 2,000 words on Zach de la Rocha\u2019s guest spot on &#8220;Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck).&#8221; Like many of the other special effects on the record (Pac-Man\u2019s rattle on \u201cEarly,\u201d all the filthy fantasies on \u201cLove Again\u201d) de la Rocha\u2019s (now) rarely heard voice is a visceral, juvenile thrill. Over a Lazerfaced interpretation of the beat from \u201cA Milli,\u201d Zach aims straight for old-school pleasure centers, making obvious references to Miles Davis (\u201cI\u2019m miles ahead of you, you can suck my bitches\u2019 brew.\u201d) and Rakim (\u201cYou can check-check my melody,\u201d) and ending by raging\u2014only a little bit\u2014with a socially conscious couplet, \u201cThe only thing that closes quicker than our caskets be the factories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The guiding force of the Run the Jewels project is undeniably El-P. His production aesthetic sets the rules, and he bats clean-up on most tracks with his calmly assertive presence. On the album opener, \u201cJeopardy,\u201d El-P lets Killer Mike rap for more than two minutes before modestly introducing himself with \u201cI\u2019ve never been much of shit, by most measurements don\u2019t exist.\u201d That humility doesn\u2019t last though. It\u2019s soon replaced by a detached, hard-earned arrogance. El-P just barely raises his voice for the song\u2019s climactic line: \u201cI been here making raw shit and never asked to be lauded. Run the Jewels is the answer, your question is \u2018what&#8217;s poppin\u2019?\u201d\u2019 Drop the mic, exit stage left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On <i>RTJ2<\/i>, El-P and Killer Mike, a.k.a. Run the Jewels, show that just because your tracks are bouncin\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean your rhymes can\u2019t be heavy and hard. It\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,989,295,988],"class_list":["post-2542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-el-p","tag-killer-mike","tag-run-the-jewels"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Run the Jewels RTJ2 - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/run-the-jewels-rtj2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Run the Jewels RTJ2 - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On RTJ2, El-P and Killer Mike, a.k.a. 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