Among the many "Bonus$ Packages" one can buy when preordering RTJ2, the sequel to last year's Run The Jewels, is the "Meow The Jewels Package," which promises that for $40,000, Run The Jewels will remix their latest album with nothing but cat noises as production. Sure enough, their internet following has come out to support the idea, and has successfully crowdsourced what was once nothing more than a joke. And yes, El-P is living up to his promise, and has already begun recruiting the choicest felines for the project. The very concept of Run The Jewels is a bonus. A supergroup combining El-P and Killer Mike does not need to exist. Both of their albums have been released as free downloads. In a sense, you are playing with house money when you listen to a Run The Jewels record, so why not give it a spin? Although it is easy to imagine that a sense of urgency would be absent on music released for free, RTJ2 is every bit as frantic as its predecessor, a collage of haymakers, explosions, unchecked testosterone, and unmatched wit. The pact these two have made to each other that Killer Mike addressed on "Banana Clipper" ("Producer made me a beat, said it's the beat of the year, I said, 'El-P didn't do it, so get the fuck outta here!'") has only fortified their bond and sharpened their focus. After spending another year savoring their roles as raunchy sages of rap, Run The Jewels have only gotten better with time.
At the very onset of RTJ2, Killer Mike roars, "I'm finna bang this bitch the fuck out!" True to his word, RTJ2 operates at record setting pace. The words "cool" and "out" do not seem to be in Jaimie and Mike's vocabulary for this go around, which is made clear enough from Rage Against The Machine's Zach De La Rocha on "Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)." "Run them Jewels fast, fuck the slow-mo," yells De La Rocha on the hook, as we find El-P making impassioned court room speeches and Mike gunning for sheriffs. It is these larger than life moments that make listening to this independent release a true Blockbuster Night. That track, which starts with a pulsing house beat, along with the mercilessly speedy "Oh My Darling Don't Cry" and "All Due Respect," feels like it has enough energy to rip a hole in the space-time continuum. But is it variety you want? Variety you shall receive! The woozy "All My Life" and anthemic "Lie, Cheat, Steal" are spiritual successors to the last album's more deliberate "Sea Legs" and "DDFH (Do Dope, Fuck Hope)," if not better versions altogether. On "Love Again," their ode to sexual perversity, Killer Mike and El-P's graphic exploits can only be topped by Gangsta Boo, who gloriously interrupts the boys' club with her own vulgar demands. "Crown" is a pep talk, a call to reignite the fighting spirit in the downtrodden. While most will be drawn to Killer Mike knocking people out and El-P tea-bagging a piranha tank, Run The Jewels is, at its heart, composed of two multifaceted artists who are able to seamlessly blend politics, existential crisis, and general awesomeness into a hardy gumbo of no-prisoners style hip-hop.
RTJ2's closer, "Angel Duster," might as well serve as the mission statement for the dynamic duo. "A little smoke for the gone boys, a little nod to the spirits/ We still here, running 'round screaming, they're still here pointing and laughing." It is an indicator that no matter how ridiculously over the top Run The Jewels may be, they still have no intention of slowing down any time soon. In a way, they are the superheroes of the rap industry, the group that everyone deserves, but no one needs. Until they are called to rise again. Yes, normally I would not reference The Dark Knight in a review. But this is Run The Jewels we're talking about. They require comparisons as big as the ones that they draw to themselves. They deserve a hero's send-off for another Job Well Done. "A little toast to the no ones, with a nod to the masters/ To the ones with riches, from the ones who the rags fit." Run The Jewels is here to stay. Run The Jewels is here for the people.
