I could never imagine in 1998 that while listening to Company Flow’s ‘Funcrusher Plus’ and Outkast ‘Aquemini,’ that I would ever hear El-P and Big Boi rapping on the same track. This has been the legacy of Run The Jewels, which is providing the most amalgamated circumstances to all of us who were listening to HOP music prior to the 2000s. For those younger ears or one’s simply not in the know, this collaboration between El-P, Killer Mike and the features they have had is standard practice in a rap music world where that proverbial “line in the sand” is no longer existent. ‘Run The Jewels’ is the second collaboration with El-P and Killer Mike, but the first of what would make them a cultural favorite among younger ears. Unlike Killer Mike’s ‘R.A.P. Music’ album from 2012, El-P was strongly motivated to rap again by Killer Mike, thus creating this rapping duo. This album is to the point and really displays the chemistry “El & Mike” have. The content was a lot more abstract and fun, to which those aspects were really sold by the visual components of the record. The first single ’36’ Chain’ has one of the most laugh out loud moments as “RTJ” re-envision L.L. Cool J’s intro to the ‘I’m Bad’ single. More “inside joke” hilarity is found on the Prince Paul featured ‘Twin Hype Back’ where he reprises his role as “Chess Rockwell” of Handsome Boy Modeling School. ‘Run The Jewels’ for me is the easiest album to digest next to ‘RTJ4′ in the Run The Jewels catalog. El-P handles the majority of the production and keeps that “futuristic b-boy” feel which keeps this album strange in 2013 but over the years it has marinated to feel a little ahead of it’s time. If the run (no pun intended) of the duo is done, within a decade they have stamped their ticket as a solid rap group and boosted the value of Killer Mike, so run these jewels back one more time *no Diddy*. What did you think of the album?

Singles include:
’36’ Chain’ & ‘A Christmas F***king Miracle,’ ‘Banana Clipper,’ ‘Run The Jewels’ & ‘Get It’

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