Album Review: Run the Jewels- Run the Jewels

Last year was quite the year for veteran hip-hop artists Killer Mike and El-P. Both released standout solo albums (R.A.P. Music and Cancer 4 Cure) which featured plenty of rage-filled verses, southern style and amazing production from El-P. This new-found partnership hit the next level this year when they decided to form a superduo called Run the Jewels, who's self-titled debut release is undoubtedly hip-hop at its finest.

Run the Jewels is exactly the type of collaboration you'd except from Killer Mike and El-P: The verses are pissed-off, the beats are grimy and electronic-tinged and it's about as far from mainstream hip-hop as you can possibly get. The rapport between Killer Mike and El-P is natural and amazing. I don't know how long they've known each other, but they have become a forced to be reckoned with in the year or so since they teamed up professionally. Their styles match up perfectly and they feed off each others energy and intensity. Run the Jewels is an especially interesting listen because outside of their well-matched rapping styles, the record is sort of a friendly competition between the two artists. Almost every verse is spat off in rapid succession with only brief hooks (which can be surprisingly catchy, like the one on the album's finest track "Sea Legs") to break up the tenseness. Even the guest spots from artists like Outkast's Big Boi ("Banana Clipper") and Prince Paul (going under the moniker Chest Rockwell on the track "Twin Hype Back") are entries in the lyrical competition going on this album with fiery verses to match the playfully combative tone of the record. You don't see albums that emphasize lyrical battles very often and it's very refreshing to see two artists that are dedicated to put a fresh spin on hip-hop. Killer Mike and El-P are like sparing partners that are striving to make each other better on each and every verse and it's just a blast to listen to these two feed off each others lyrical jabs throughout the record.

Run the Jewels is not your typical hip-hop collab record and it's all the better for it. You have two abstract, fierce artists combining their similar visions for a gut-punch of an album that is relentless in its intensity throughout. El-P's amazing production emphasizes the power that each of them bring lyrically and continues to show why he is one of the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking producers in all of hip-hop (Killer Mike accurately sings his praises on "Banana Clipper" with the lines "Producer gave me a beat/said it's the beat of the year/I said El-P didn't do it/So get the fuck outta here.) Run the Jewels is a collection of no bullshit hip-hop that is strictly business with 33-minutes of absolute bangers and nothing even close to filler. You'll be hard-pressed to find many hip-hop records this year that are this efficient, fun, cohesive, lyrically-impressive and venom-filled. Killer Mike and El-P are taking the hip-hop world by storm for a second year in a row and if they keep up this workload and quality of records, these two will be will be the most unstoppable force in hip-hop. Run the Jewels 2 can't come soon enough.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Sea Legs
2.36' Chain
3.Banana Clipper