Rap duo, Run The Jewels, just released a new, thrilling [slightly unexpected] album RTJ4. Entering this release, fans may have been expecting politically charged verses, a Zach de la Rocha appearance, and intriguing hard-hitting production. The album is comprised of 11 songs with roughly 40 minutes of runtime – throughout those minutes you’ll notice a surprising amount of chemistry between the two, switching seamlessly between the artists.

Of course the first track in Run The Jewels’ RTJ4, “Yankee and the Brave (Ep. 4)” exceeds expectations – its a hard-hitting banger where both El-P and Killer Mike trade multisyllabic verses that paint themselves as anti-protagonists in an action film, while also sending a threat to those who stand in their way. By the third verse, Killer Mike and El-P express running away from the cops and hopping in a getaway ride. The production repeats with blasts of bass that are immediately followed by rugged kicks and splashy symbols. Those fiery moments are contrasted against a repetitive bell and a whistling background – the perfect production themes that make this track play out like a batman comic. 

“Ooh La La (feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier)” is an immediate earworm with its repeated titled refrain sung by Greg Nice echoed in the chorus. It’s complete with a chorded piano loop, the usual boom bat production hints of trap, mixed with the occasional mechanical ticking of quarter note high hats. In the background, yells fill out the track to create a more complete backing. The song’s lyrical content is mostly about both of them threatening others while uplifting each other. El-P has a great line with, “When we talk, we Kalashnikov, keep us in your thoughts, Fully dressed at the crack of dawn, weapons letting off.” The reference to a Kalashnikov [a soviet union style rifle] emphasizes how the only sound that is heard when you speak of Run The Jewels is the sound of their guns. DJ Premier comes in on the second half of the track with some scratching over Nice’s chorus that leads to a nice welcome for the song to not overstay its welcome.  

Track three is a similar threat/brag track involving clever wordplay about being dope with some references to the iconic film Scarface. The beat to “Out of Site” is compiled of chopped up short sound bites pitched up and down to create an abrasive loud melody. Killer Mike has a great multi syllable run in the first verse – “Yeah, ever ready baby boy, Betty movin’ extra heavy, Whippin’ Chevy, gotta get it, eat spaghetti with the mafia.” Instead of each spitting their own 8 bar verse, the two of them beautifully share the first verse trading 2 bars each – Killer Mike spits his 8 bars, then El-P follows up. 2 Chainz has a solid tongue in cheek verse where he surprisingly keeps his speed up – “I buy a hot dog stand if I’m tryna be frank” and shouting out Tony Montana at the end of his verse, in the ever-popular 2 Chainz manner. 

“Holy Calamafuck” is a track that really lives by its name – production-wise. It introduces the listener to a theatrical beat switch up until it reaches the 1:30 point. It goes from a talking vocal sample that quickly drops to a sound only to be equated to that of a dark marching anthem, soon paired with what sounds like a jingling cowbell and a massive explosion that acts as a rhythmic percussion. By the beat switch, an electric guitar accompanies El-P alongside two piano chords that add a splash of light to the overall sound. El-P easily has the most iconic verses on this song due to how he was able to rhyme using the “Iver” and “Ooh” sound in such a seamless manner. However, Killer Mike also has quality verses that include memorable lines like, “Until you rob a hypebeast, you ain’t seen sadness.” By the end of Killer Mike‘s verse, the instrumental leaves these urgent rising synths that explode into two separate vocal samples that are played around each other like their fighting for prevalence. 

The production on “Goonies vs. E.T.” strings 808’s to make a bass melody match with higher-pitched guitar strums and an alarming amount of trap ticks that command the listener’s attention. This song’s lyrical content was the first of many politically outspoken moments on the album. The whole second verse and chorus are a metaphor for Democrats vs. Republicans. At surface level, it sounds like someone expressing their feelings to an ex-lover but in reality, it describes the feelings of dissatisfaction they have towards the other side. Killer Mike’s verse steals the show as the greatest four bars of commentary on protests in the digital age – “Now I understand that woke folk be playin‘, Ain’t no revolution that’s televised and digitized, You’ve been hypnotized and Twitter-ized by silly guys, Cues to the evenin’ news, make sure you ill-advised.” El-P‘s great ending to his verse introduces the theme of the next track called “Walking in the Snow”, speaking – “Fuck y’all got, another planet on stash?, Far from the fact of the flames of our trash?, That is not snow, it is ash, and you gotta know, The past got a wrath, it’s a lover gone mad, But I promise (Promise).” 

“Walking in the Snow”, an unexpected favorite, with a hidden feature and chorus from Gangsta Boo about racial indifference. The instrumental is a combination of sounds – from chanting “ay” to an old school cartoon sound effect of someone getting hit over the head. El-P’s verse talks about how if those in lower classes tend to suffer more than those in higher classes. Killer Mike shares his strongest verse [emotionally] on this project hands down – speaking on the trend of those who put out performative posts versus how the media handles innocent people of color getting killed. In a whispered struggling voice, he describes Eric Garner and predicts the most recent death of George Floyd – “And you so numb, you watch the cops choke out a man like me…Until my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, ‘I can’t breathe.”

One could expect Zach de la Rocha’s feature due to the plethora of songs released together by Zach and RTJ. Admittedly so, it was a bit of a shell shock to see Pharrell Williams’ feature and was skeptical of how they’d blend. Yet track seven, “Ju$t”, becomes an instant fan favorite simply due to Pharrell. Stealing the show with two great, eye-opening pre-choruses that Killer Mike carries through in the chorus (backed by de la Rocha) singing, “Look at all these slave masters posin’ on yo’ dollar.” These lyrics emphasize that slavery is still alive today – only it’s mental, not physical. De la Rocha has quite the iconic verse with also one of the best references to the chaotic antics this year has shown thus far – “How can we be the peace, When the beast reaches for the worst?”  

The instrumentation in “The Ground Below” is full of heavy rock riffs and explosive percussion with the occasional re-verbed, “What?” vocal sample. By the 33 second mark, the beat introduces a whip sample, a nice touch that repeats every other beat. Killer Mike comes in with a bravado hungrier than normal – while both members strive to drive home the point of being unapologetic to who you are and your goals. They do this by saying outlandish things – Killer Mike [is] a god while El-P says he’d slap a dying child for not pronouncing his name correctly. While this track brings the raw emotion that lacked in the previous, “The Ground Below” leaves us begging for more from a production standpoint.

“Pulling the Pin” has an instrumental similar to MF Doom, the same ticking trap high hat as “Goonies vs. E.T.”, and the bubbling synths of Madvillainy. The track features Mavis Staples & Josh Homme – with Staples taking on the chorus in a soulful delivery, while Homme helps out with production work. Killer Mike has a verse that is delivered like an assault rifle firing off. They both explain their gripes with the twisted concept of capitalism, taking shots at those who sit at its top. 

The final track, appropriately named “A Few Words for the Firing Squad (Radiation)”  has a background string section that consistently rises – aided with keys to make the overall sound more full. The track layers instrumentation, adding saxophone and high pitched synths until reaching an explosion of energy before the saxophone goes into a solo. Both of the first verses are dedicated to their immediate family and wives – letting them know their perspective. The second verse brings everyone together El-P talking about his sister and how we need to stand together. Killer Mike dedicates his last verse to his mom and those who were killed in the past by deliberately racist people. The beat pauses and the prologue for Yankee and the Brave part 4 are sung by hidden featured guests, Matt Sweeny and A$AP Ferg. It has a western/ country tint to the singing and sets up the first track making the album perfectly loop into itself.  

One of the more unique aspects of this album is that almost every track begins to like it’s a new comic book issue, either with El-P or Killer Mike reiterating their backstory in some way. The featured artists added necessary additional voices needed to convey their messages throughout the listing.

Unsurprisingly El-P and Killer Mike delivered again and further honed in their craft as a collective. RTJ4 is a tight nit project that knows who they are and who they want to be – in some cases exceeding of fans and critics alike. The album touches on issues of race, government, and is full of amazing wordplay and imagery. RTJ4 is easily their strongest release yet and leaves us optimistic for their future music.

 

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Featured Image By Tyler Garcia