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.

What better way to kick off 2015 than with some news on Run The Jewels’ “all cat sounds” remix album Meow The Jewels. Apparently, these sampled meows are provided by internet celebucat Lil Bub. The album will feature remixes of the original RTJ2 tracks by Just Blaze, Alchemist, Prince Paul, Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Baauer, Dan the Automator, and others. And yes, they too will sample feline sounds. It is sure to be the cat’s meow.

A video posted by thereallyrealelp (@thereallyrealelp) on Jan 23, 2015 at 4:36pm PST

A video posted by thereallyrealelp (@thereallyrealelp) on Jan 23, 2015 at 5:57pm PST

A video posted by thereallyrealelp (@thereallyrealelp) on Jan 23, 2015 at 7:12pm PST

]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2015/01/24/here-are-the-first-snippets-of-meow-the-jewels/feed/ 2 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2015/01/24/belated-best-worst-2014-list-the-10-best-indie-label-albums/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2015/01/24/belated-best-worst-2014-list-the-10-best-indie-label-albums/#comments Sat, 24 Jan 2015 23:30:53 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=96327 [cont.]]]>

Following our reveal of the best major label hip-hop albums of 2014 earlier in the week, we now present our favorite indie LP’s of the year. As per usual, it was hard to find 10 inclusions for the major label list, and hard to narrow it down to only 10 on the indie list.

10. Step Brothers (Evidence + Alchemist) – Lord Steppington – Rhymesayers - Lord Steppington is unlike anything either Al or Ev have done thus far, which is testament to their versatility. It doesn’t sound like a Dilated album without Rakka, nor does it sound like, say, Albert Einstein from a production standpoint. Evidence and Alchemist have challenged themselves here, and ended up producing a dope, unconventional underground rap album, most likely dreamed up in the smokiest of atmospheres. Here come the lords.

9. Bishop Nehru + MF Doom – NehruvianDOOM – Lex Records – MF Doom teamed up with rising star Bishop Nehru for NehruvianDOOM, a solid collaborative album that found him laying down tracks for the young emcee. While some complained about re-used beats, we didn’t mind, as we don’t really listen to Doom’s beat tapes anyway. Sewn together brilliantly with Doom’s off kilter samples from various different sources, it’s rare we find Doom producing a whole album for someone, which made this a real treat.

8. Your Old Droog – Your Old Droog LP – Droog Recordings – It started off as some kid on Reddit proposing the idea that Droog was actually Nas in disguise, leading to a whole bunch of people accidentally checking for the Coney Island, NY rapper. What we found was an incredibly solid LP from a budding emcee with an airtight flow and classic, sample based production. Released on “Droog Recordings” this is the definition of an indie success story.

7. Apathy – Connecticut Casual – Demigodz Recordings – Connecticut Casual is a concept album, but isn’t as heavy as say, The Roots …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, for example. It’s a pretty straight-shooting, classically styled hip-hop record, but Ap ties the entire thing together by using his home state as a backdrop. Using the New England area’s rich history as a blueprint, he examines the state’s dichotomy of its Yacht-owning upper class, and it’s seedier crime ridden underbelly. Another well put together album, with very interesting, unexplored territory in hip-hop music.

6. Ras Kass + Apollo Brown – Blasphemy – MelloMusicGroup - Ras Kass and Apollo Brown’s, Blasphemy, is a concept LP that is more or less a crusade against organized religion. It’s also one of the best albums of the year, and quite possibly the most concise album that Ras has ever recorded. Ras has finally been given an equally yoked producer to match his sharp lyrical prowess.

5. Ghostface Killah – 36 Seasons – Tommy Boy – Where the Wu failed with A Better Tomorrow, Ghostface delivered with a literal “better tomorrow” releasing his excellent 36 Seasons LP just a week later. An incredibly tight-knit concept album with fresh, original live production from The Revelations, Ghostface Killah has long proven to be the Wu-Tang Clan’s most consistant member.

4. DJ Premier + Royce Da 5’9 – PRhyme – PRhyme Records – American dream team of DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9 reunited after the success of their classic single “Boom,” for Preem’s first group project since the dissolution of Gang Starr. While the album showed both artists doing what they do best, we’d love to see how they mature as a group with consecutive albums as time goes on.

3. Statik Selektah – What Goes Around – Showoff - While not as high-profile as some of the other releases on this list, Statik Selektah’s What Goes Around was easily one of the most consistent LPs of 2014, especially considering its length. Stat has matured into one of the best producers in the game, able to zero in on that “golden age” sound, with an extensive guest list to help drive it home.

Pharoahe Monch – PTSD – W.A.R. Media – In his most focused and consistent LP since Internal Affairs, Pharaohe Monch has taken a real-life bout with depression and turned into one of the strongest independent LP of the year. He doesn’t try to recapture the success of “Simon Says”, nor does he try to crossover with Cee-Lo-esque gospel/soul tracks, despite his obvious singing chops. This is an unapologetically dark, incredibly well-written, musically sound LP that finds the emcee returning to greatness. Pharoahe Fucking Monch, ain’t a damn thing changed.

1. Run The Jewels (Killer Mike + El-P) – RTJ2 – Productomart / Mass Appeal – RTJ2 is a worthy sequel to the original that gets consecutively better with each listen, topping many of the industry’s year end lists across all music genres. 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. It is possible that this album could mark a turning point for hip-hop music, so bump this shit like they do in the future.

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.

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.

Fantastic interview with Jamie and Mike of Run The Jewels on NPR’s Microphone Check. Ali Shaheed Muhammad is absent this episode, unfortunately.

Hosted by Run The Jewels, the official tour mixtape from RTJ’s DJ, Trackstar, collects a lot of loose material from Killer Mike and El-Producto.

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 @@@@@.

We can’t wait for October 27th.