Killer Mike is a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia and El-P is from Brooklyn, New York. After a massive amount of success as a duo, they've decided to go by the alias "Run The Jewels". It's a smart move because their names are a bit much to spell out separately. Run The Jewels 2 is misleading. The cover is a zombie hand pointed at a fist. Humble right? Well look closely and you'll realize the hands are severed. Are they running the jewels? Are they making a satire about it? The new album makes the hands gold. It seems a bit like a double meaning.
About the music, they make music about politics and running and gunning. They do it well, but there aren't a lot of individual songs that stand out because the message is a little repetitive. Signing on Fool's Gold with Danny Brown is a pretty easy head start. However, after producing 2 successful hip hop acts, there's no doubt that the world will be buzzing over the next Fool's Gold rapper. Speaking of Danny Brown, he's featured on the album.
Defining Track"Legend Has It" was the single and is very good. They bounce around in their flow pattern without switching it much but they change their inflection a lot. It's a good song, but it's not revolutionary. EarlWolf, Watch the Throne, What a Time to Be Alive; hookless tradeoff songs are cool but not all that difficult or original.
Final Thoughts
Run The Jewels are good at what they do, but they play it very safe. They adopted the name of their most successful album. They re-used the same design with gold. I think they're aware that they didn't get successful completely on talent. They can relax though, indie rap needs more artists with Run The Jewel's cultural momentum and their numbers reflect that.
Rap Independent
Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 3
8.5/10
