Mass Appeal: “Mike and El-P head to Graffiti’s SWAG Shop in Atlanta, Georgia and talk to four kids about real shit: girls vs. boys’ intelligence, Iggy Azalea, non-violent drug offenses, and more. Don’t sleep on the wisdom of the youth.”

From the critically acclaimed RTJ2 LP. Directed by RuffMercy.

World champions Killer Mike and El-P perform live in Paris, France. Amazing HD recorded footage, none that iPhone / Blackberry camera bullshit.

Bonus, check out the Run The Jewels inspired Marvel Comic book covers for Deadpool and Howard The Duck. Current Marvel EIC Axel Alonso is apparently a huge fan of the group.

“Oh My Darling (Don’t Cry)” is the second single off of Run The Jewels 2. Directed by Timothy Saccenti. In the second clip, the El-P auditions cats for Meow The Jewels.

Longtime rap scribe Byron Crawford was at the St. Louis, MO Run The Jewels concert on Monday night, while the Ferguson riots took place just 15 miles away. He reports for Cuepoint.

Run The Jewels Stage a Rap Show During a Race Riot

After last nights Ferguson verdict, which found police officer Darren Wilson not indicted after the murder of Michael Brown, Killer Mike and El-P performed in St. Louis, Missouri, just miles away from Ferguson. He gave a tearful, heartfelt speech to the fans, before launching into some Run The Jewels bangers.

RTJ2 is available now.

If you caught J-Zone’s recent article, Can We Finally Bury The Word “Hater?”, one of the takeaways from it was that hip-hop has completely lost its edge. Everyone is so afraid to hurt their “brand,” that rap music is no longer “scary” in his words, and never challenges the status quo. Sure, there’s plenty of quality stuff still being made, but nobody is pushing the envelope. On the major label side of things, you have a handful of artists chasing whatever the hot sound is, releasing albums that sound like compilations, while the underground has been largely making better music, but still stuck using the same styles of production.

Enter Run The Jewels, the dynamic duo of Dungeon Family alum, Killer Mike, and Def Jux founder El-P. Last year, they dropped all jaws to the floor with their self-titled debut album for A-Trak’s Fool’s Gold imprint, earning a perfect 5 @ rating via this site, with a top-to-bottom LP that rewrote the rules of rap, with the most unlikely of pairings. A year later, they announced the sequel, RTJ2, which again would be free for fans to download, and very quickly owned the hearts of rap fans, even making the front page of Reddit.

RTJ2 may have actually got more press for its unique pre-order packages, one of which offered that the band would remix the album using “cat sounds,” for $40,000. This of course went viral on the internet, leading to a currently in production, fan-funded, for charity project that will find the album remixed with feline noises, by names like Dan The Automator, The Alchemist, Just Blaze, and Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, among others. But that’s later.

That accidental stunt may have been just what they needed to get people to pay attention, and most who have heard RTJ2 in its current, original form will tell you that this record is well worth your time. Very much a “b-side” to the first volume, RTJ2 picks up right where the first volume left off, yet raises the bar on all fronts, in lyrics, production, song concept, and song structure. Killer Mike sets the tone from the jump, hollering “Let’s go El-P!” at the start of the record in his trademark Southern drawl, fully confident in what they are about to unleash unto the world.

The album combines the best of the two artists’ styles into a unique sound that we’ve seldom heard elsewhere. “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry,” for instance, finds El’s bass-heavy, vocal-stuttered, subterranean production juxtaposed (no pun intended) with Mike’s Southern bounce style of rhyming. El employs it with his cadence as well, as the two get down to their most base of past times each chanting “I do two things, I rap and fuck!” This overabundant, punch-you-in-the-face bravado comes through all over the record, especially on “Love Again (Akineyle Back),” a Sam Kinison-by-way-of-Run-DMC inspired sex rap, which is evened out by an equally carnal verse from Gangsta Boo. The pugnaciousness of tracks like “Blockbuster Night Part 1″, “All Due Respect,” “Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)” (feat. Zack De La Rocha) quickly reminds you of what’s been missing from hip-hop over the last decade: attitude, aggression, energy, and an envelope that’s being pushed to the limit.

Yet its not all dicks-out-middle-fingers-up the whole time. True to their catalog, Mike and El-P use their platform to make statements and speak on touchy topics. The 808 driven “Lie, Cheat, Steal” is an incredibly produced track that takes an unpredictable turn when the hook comes in, making you second guess all of your life’s choices. Things get heavy on the beautifully descriptive “Early,” where Mike pleads with a police officer not to let things get violent in front of his family, before delving into a rock-tinged hook from BOOTS. Later on the brooding “Crown,” El rhymes from the perspective of a shadowy government official, suggesting the listener follow orders and not ask questions. Shit is deep.

RTJ2 is another record that gets consecutively better with each listen. It’s so far removed from what major labels have been pushing on us for the last few years, yet it sons them all with a smart, progressive, politically minded, and musically dope album that challenges the status quo, and reminds us why we still love hip-hop after all these years. Well done, gents.

From the album A Lesson Unlearnt. Directed by Peter Lawrie Winfield & Storme Whitby Grubb.

From their self-titled sophomore album, Run The Jewels 2, Killer Mike and El-P perform “Early.” Review on the way.

Killer Mike and El-P’s Run The Jewels 2 is available now for free download, or for purchase on iTunes.

HipHopSite.Com review coming soon. Their last one got @@@@@.

As you may have heard, Killer Mike and El-P offered a series of ridiculous pre-order packages for their Oct. 27th Run The Jewels album. Among these was an offer for $45,000, in which the duo would remix the album using nothing but “cat sounds.” The idea was a hit with fans, who started a Kickstarter for the project, with all funds going to charity. Other peeps joined in, such as Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, Alchemist, Just Blaze, Dan The Automator, Prince Paul, Zola Jesus, Nick Hook, Baauer, Gaslamp Killer, and Skywalkrr, each offering to remix a track for the project. The duo achieved the $45,000 goal, and now will release the album officially. Check out the trailer below.

A message from Jamie and Mike:

Last year we gave you Run The Jewels and in exchange we asked for an email. Since then we haven’t been in touch unless you’ve seen us at a show, talked to us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, bumped in to us at a bar, sold us weed, etc etc. Truth be told our intention was to mercilessly sell your email information to literally anyone who would pay in a desperate attempt to raise enough money to buy 2 giant 36″, 14 K yellow-gold dookie rope chains or 4 bit coins. While we still yearn for those, we (regrettably) forgot to do the whole “betraying your privacy” thing, mostly due to the amount of marijuana we smoke on a daily basis. In fact, we completely forgot we even had these emails until yesterday. Shit happens.

No bullshit,
Jaime and Mike

Check out the pre-order packages here. The album is due October 27th.

On the heels of a Summer festival run and Canadian headlining dates, Run The Jewels, the hip hop dream team of El-P and Killer Mike, have announced an extensive headlining tour with Ratking and Despot in support of their massively anticipated sophomore album RTJ2, set to arrive as a free download (via www.runthejewels.net), as well as CD, LP, and digital via Mass Appeal Records on October 28. The tour follows highly regarded appearances at Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Music Fest Northwest, Governor’s Ball, and FYF Fest that galvanized fervent excitement among fans for the new album and subsequent touring. Tickets for most shows on sale Friday; check www.runthejrewels.net for ticket links (full tour dates below).

In celebration of the tour announcement the duo have shared the album artwork and tracklisting for the new album, revealing guest spots by Zack de la Rocha, Travis Barker, BOOTS, and Diane Coffee. Run The Jewels are also excited to confirm that a remix album is in the works for Fool’s Gold in 2015, details of which are pending. RTJ2 will also be preceded by the duo’s highly anticipated contribution to Adult Swim’s Single Series on September 15.

1. Jeopardy
2. Oh My Darling Don’t Cry
3. Blockbuster Night Part 1
4. Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck) [feat. Zack de la Rocha]
5. All My Life
6. Lie, Cheat, Steal
7. Early (feat. BOOTS)
8. All Due Respect (feat. Travis Barker)
9. Love Again (Akinyele Back)
10. Crown (feat. Diane Coffee)
11. Angel Duster

RUN THE JEWELS TOUR DATES

10/15 – College Station, TX – Hurricane Harry’s %
10/18 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s %
10/20 – Little Rock, AR – Stickyz
10/21 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall %
10/22 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
10/23 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City %
10/24 – Columbia, SC – Music Farm %
10/25 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm %
10/31 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts *
11/1 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
11/2 – Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater *
11/3 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle *
11/4 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade *
11/6 – Dallas, TX – Trees *
11/7 – Austin, TX – Fun Fun Fun Fest
11/8 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s *
11/10 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom *
11/11 – La Jolla, CA – Porters Pub *
11/12 – Pomona, CA – Glass House *
11/14 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine +
11/15 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater *
11/17 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge *
11/18 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre *
11/20 – Minneapolis, MN – First Line Music Café *
11/21 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre *
11/22 – Chicago, IL – Metro *
11/25 – Detroit, MI – St Andrews Hall *
11/26 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall *
11/27 – Montreal, QC – Club Soda *
11/28 – Boston, MA – Paradise *
11/29 – New York, NY – Stage 48 *
12/30 – Lorne, AU – Falls Festival
12/31 – Marion Bay, AU – Falls Festival
1/1 – Sydney, AU – Field Day
1/2 – Byron Bay, AU – Falls Festival
1/4 – Busselton, AU – Southbound Festival
1/7 – Sydney, AU – Enmore Theatre ^
1/8 – Melbourne, AU – The Forum ^
1/9 – Brisbane, AU – Hi Fi ^
1/10 – Auckland, NZ – Town Hall ^

% Red Bull Sound Select show
* with Ratking & Despot
+ with Despot
^ with Joey Bada$$