In honor of RTJ4 coming soon, I’ve decided to make my first review/analysis to be every Run The Jewels album UP TO DATE. I’ve been a big fan of RTJ since 8th grade, they introduced me to experimental hip hop, very near and dear to me.
I’ll start off by ranking the albums
RTJ ALBUMS RANKED
1. RTJ2
2. RTJ
3. RTJ3
4. MTJ
So lets start reviewing in chronological order
RUN THE JEWELS – SELF TITLED
This is where it all started for me. From the moment it began, I was hooked. El-P’s production, the rapping, and pure quality all hit me by surprise. El-P kicks off the album explaining what RTJ is, without needing to say it explicitly I remember almost yelling “woaaaaah” in class when I heard Run The Jewels (the song). There is not a single beat that matches the song that I’ve heard at all. I knew from this moment what was going to follow was pure badassery. Then you get Banana Clipper, where Killer Mike just goes straight to the point and starts spazzing on the beat, extremely smooth like butter. The beat feels like a car chase. LITERALLY. Then you get this incredible Big Boi feature (which is the first thing I had heard from Big Boi as a feature), and he absolutely murders it. I didn’t even know Big Boi could rap like that. Next, 36 Inch Chain will forever be a banger, this badass, chest puffed out song that makes you feel like the shit. It didn’t even like chains, and after hearing the album I wanted to buy one, it was THAT dope. Then, DDFH was a change of pace, a bit slower, but still dope. It’s has this awesome, head nodding beat, that when you listen to it you can’t help but feel like you’re about to go into a battle. Sea Legs is yet another change of pace, it’s probably the weirdest song on the album, not my favorite cut, it’s not bad, but for me, it’s the most lackluster on the album, I’ll still listen to it, but I can live without it. Saying “i got sea legs” is fun as fuck though. But then you get hit with this BIG ASS PUNCH that is Job Well Done. GODDAMN, Killer Mike starts off the song in such an unforgettable way, the song NEVER fails to surprise me. They literally eat the track TO THE BONE. Easily my favorite off the album. The pace is changed with No Come Down, it’s this weird, ominous, trippy “get high” song that is still really cool sober. It’s not one of my favorites, but it for sure still is great. BUT THEN IT BRINGS IT BACK to more badassery with Get It. Again, another chest puffed out song, again, rapping effortlessly, with the catchiest hook on the album easily. Twin Hype Back is this pretty funny song, featuring Prince Paul as this absolute chad talking into your ear about fucking you in the ass. It’s so badass but I can’t take it serious, it’s just too funny. But then, the albums concludes with A Christmas Fucking Miracle, easily the deepest, most personal song on the entire album. After all this badassery, we realize that badasses have feelings too. They rap about their lives and their success story, and the world around them. It’s profound and sees the rappers at their most vulnerable. An excellent conclusion to the album. I don’t want to talk about the production much, but the production is flawless, every song is badass just because of the beat. The hooks on the album are amazing. They’re catchy, but not catchy because they’re easily made, making it easy to remember, but they’re catchy because they’re so dope to say. In total, RTJ’s self titled is a near perfect, if not flawless project. It’s genuine hip hop, with the morality it was founded on: strictly quality. 10 songs that all are exciting and engaging, instead of 10 good songs with 4-7 extra songs that don’t surprise. It’s straightforward and amazing. Pure badassery, as I mentioned so many times in this review.
BEST SONG: Job Well Done
WORST SONG: Sea Leg
SCORE: 10/10
RUN THE JEWELS – RUN THE JEWELS 2
HOLY FUCK. This is the “Empire Strikes Back” of albums. I listened to RTJ when they had already released all 3 RTJ’s, so I was listening to it in order. I was so blown away by the self titled, that I didn’t even go into the album very open minded. I was proven EXTREMELY WRONG. RTJ2 BLEW AWAY EVERY SINGLE OPINION I HAD BEFORE GOING INTO IT. The album starts off with Jeopardy, Killer Mike is yelling, as you’d expect him to, and then goes into this weird, Mad Max style synth intro, that just starts building up for when of the greatest drops you’ll ever hear in a rap song. It’s this “we’re back and we’re better song”, and they couldn’t have picked a better song to kick off the album. It is easily my favorite instrumental out of any Run The Jewels song. Then you get thrown into this simple, yet BANGING ASS SONG: Oh My Darling Don’t Cry. A very simple beat, yet with a bass so heavy you’re just like WOW. It’s fun, El-P starts by rapping “Fuck the law, they can eat my dick, that’s word to Pimp”. HOW CAN THAT NOT BE FIRE! It’s a fun and badass song, but it doesn’t compare at ALL to what followed it. Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1 is easily my favorite Run The Jewels song of ALL TIME. The electric guitar riff always hypes me up, and the kick just going BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM is so insane and raw. Killer Mike and El-P both dive into the track, in this battle rap style song that just shows their sheer skill. Then, the album continues onto Close Your Eyes And Count To Fuck, which is where the album starts changing subject matter. It’s lyrics are dark, even if it’s badass, tackling the issue of police brutality, accompanied by an amazing return from Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against The Machine). It is an intense song that does not sugar coat anything. It displays a clear emotion of anger and an urge to fight. It’s followed up by All My Life, which is a change of pace, more relaxed, still with intesity, just not as much. It’s not one of the more important cuts from the album, but it’s still a good song needless to say, and it’s made up for with the song that follows: Lie, Cheat, Steal. It’s a song that sounds ominous and cool and then hits you with this crazy beat, I don’t even know how to describe it. El-P begins the song rapping smoothly, and then dives in when the beat drops. It’s a really dope song, with a very interesting message about fake gangsters and politics. The album takes yet another turn, with a more darker song song, on Early, featuring BOOTS. It explores very good storytelling from both Killer Mike and El-P, and it takes a more explicit take on police brutality than Close Your Eyes And Count To Fuck, detailing emotions and life dealing with police brutality. It is clearly meant to do that: evoke the emotion of frustration and sadness, with BOOTS giving a beautiful hook that conveys those emotions, along with the production, that is more down darker than any of the songs before it. It’s followed by All Due Respect, which is one of my FAVORITE RTJ songs. It features relatively legendary drummer Travis Barker of Blink-182. Travis absolutely goes in on the percussion, and is paired with excellent accompanying production from El-P. This track isn’t a head nodder, it’s a HEAD BANGER, and as always, Killer Mike and El-P deliver with insane raps. It’s followed by a song that feels a little out of touch with everything Run The Jewels had done previously: Love Again. Sex is a common topic in RTJ albums, but never so explicit in a song like this. It’s a fun song, originally I didn’t like it, but it really grew on me, and sometimes I’m embarrassed to listen to it, but it’s so cool. The beat is this dope, sexy yet badass beat that absolutely fits the song, with Killer Mike and El-P both enjoying the fuck out of it. Gangsta Boo from Three 6 Mafia is featured on the song, and I’m pretty surprised to say this, but she OUTRAPPED them on their own song. She delivered sex bars just as the song required, but focused very good on the rhymes and flow. Job well done. It’s followed by Crown, one of the best songs in my opinion from the album, and a Top 10 Run The Jewels song. It changes the pace again, it’s a more depressing and darker song, seeing Killer Mike and El-P at their most vulnerable at the time this was released, epecially for Killer Mike, being able to open up about his drug dealing past at an emotional level. It’s easily one of the most important songs off of the Run The Jewels discography. The album cocludes with Angel Duster, with a similar production style of that of A Christmas Fucking Miracle. Lyrically, it’s a perfect catchy wrap up to the album, yet still touching on the topics of politics, drugs etc. It’s a perfect conclusion. RTJ2 is obviously a more personal and conscious album, with more politically and sociologically charged lyrics, all while retaining badass, if not EVEN MORE badass music and the same morality RTJ was established on. I don’t believe RTJ4 will top it at all. RTJ2 is easily my favorite RTJ album and it never fails to surprise me. One of the greatest sophomore albums of all time easily, with a album that didn’t just live up to the name, but also blew it out of the water.
BONUS: I reviewed the free download version, but you also have Blockbuster Night, Pt. 2 in the paid/streaming version. It’s a dope, boom-bap bonus song that isn’t as badass as Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1, but it’s focuses on pure rapping, with great features from Depost and Wiki, which I know from Last Huzzah and AM // Radio, both extremely underrated. It’s a great bonus track if you felt like you needed more RTJ after Angel Duster.
BEST SONG: Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1
WORST SONG: All My Life
SCORE: 10/10
RUN THE JEWELS – MEOW THE JEWELS.
Run The Jewels 2, but with cats and Snoop Dogg.
BEST SONG: PAWFLUFFER NIGHT
WORST SONG: ALL MEOW LIFE
SCORE: MEOW/10
RUN THE JEWELS – RUN THE JEWELS 3
Run The Jewels 3 was a pretty big change from RTJ and RTJ2. It sounded more polished and clearer, opposed from the gritty grimy sound the previous albums had. This is the victory lap of RTJ. To me this album serves as the marker of RTJ’s place in hip hop. Keep in mind, this album came out in 2016, where the year felt really unbalanced, with really good quality traditional rap albums, but at the same time really good trap albums, and extremely successful pop rap albums like Views, and a few experimental cuts in between, creating sort of a sense of conflict/competition in rap that year. RTJ3 is easily the most politically charged of all 3 projects, with the entire concept being “Kill Your Masters”. While it’s the album that solidifies RTJ in rap, it takes advantage to speak on very specific topics, especially with the political and societal situations going on at that time. Down is an interesting way to start the album, since RTJ and RTJ2 both start pretty intensely. It’s more down tempo, with Killer Mike and El-P reflecting on the road they’ve traveled so far, and how the journey continues. It’s a great introduction. We return to a bit of normality with Talk To Me, which feels like a second intro, or the actual intro to the album. Down was just like in a movie where the studios and stuff get shown, Talk To Me is the real opening credits scene. It’s an amazing song, and I always know I’m listening to it because of that one sound that REALLY sounds like the Crash Bandicoot WOAH meme lmao. Aside from all of that, the song is amazing, intense, and the raps are great. The drops always are excellent as well. The mood so far continues with Legend Has It, probably the most popular/well known Run The Jewels song, haven been used in almost EVERY ACTION MOVIE TRAILER FROM 2017-2018. It’s a great song, El-P was very creative on the instrumental, and they both let themselves go on the raps, which is all this song has. It is a perfect banger, the first badass chest puffed out song of the album. The hype continues, but relaxes on Call Ticketron, with a simple yet banging beat, and Killer Mike and El-P rapping and flowing effortlessly. A seriously underrated song among RTJ fans. The intensity is brought back with Hey Kids (Bumaye), it’s a gritter song, feeling violent even. Killer Mike and El-P take on these sort of executioner personas. The song features Danny Brown, who absolutely kills it, matching the intensity of the song perfectly (thanks uncle Danny!). It continues onto Stay Gold, which is one of my favorite Run The Jewels songs, Stay Gold. Stay Gold is more simplistic, but it’s really dope, and super catchy. Some people I know absolutely hate the beat, but it’s so weird and cool, instead of a head banger or head nodder, it’s a head cocker. There’s not much to say about this song apart from it’s a fun song. After Stay Gold, the album takes the political turn, and it starts with Don’t Get Captured. Don’t Get Captured is a really creative song lyrically, where Killer Mike raps as a social activist, and El-P as a pig (corrupt cop). It’s a pretty interesting and dope song to listen to that contributes to the bigger image of RTJ3. Thieves! follows it, which is easily my least favorite RTJ song, despite it being really good subject wise and lyrically, being the continuation of Don’t Get Captured, where they continue to rap as their characters, this time touching more racial issues. Thieves! to meis just not that enjoyable because it’s not a engaging as the past RTJ songs, despite it being weirder and stranger production wise, but it’s made up by 2100, which is an absolute masterpiece of a song. It’s easily one of the most important RTJ songs of all time, releasing right after the 2016 election. It’s a pretty sad song even, it matched the spirit of America perfectly when it released: anger, frustration, sadness, doubt, questioning. It’s instrumental is extremely well made, and both Killer Mike and El-P sort of vent politically, and BOOTS returns again for a great feature. It’s one of the most touching and underrated Run The Jewels song. You’re sort of in a sad mood after listening to it, but it’s followed up by my second favorite RTJ song of all time: Panther Like A Panther. Easily the MOST badass song on the album. With a sped up bongo sample that sounds absolutely insane, and a crazy drop, finding El-P and Killer Mike going apeshit on the rapping. The hook is easily my favorite, because where all the other badass RTJ song make you feel like saying “I’m the shit”, you can actually SAY “I’M THE SHIT” WITH THE SONG! It’s accompanied with a feature from Trinna. She’s an all star. Now, here’s the problem, the 3 and a half songs that follow are, and I’d never think I’d say this about RTJ, not that good/engaging. Everybody Stay Calm isn’t very interesting, Oh Mama is cool, and even personal, but it’s followed up by Thursday In The Danger room, which isn’t that engaging. A Report To The Shareholders is okay, but not as good as the second half of the song it’s in. Kill Your Masters is that second half, or as I like to call it, Close Your Eyes And Count To Fuck II. It’s a great song to conclude the album with, it’s dark, with Zack De La Rocha returning for a feature. If you need a perfect example of what RTJ3 is about, Kill Your Masters is perfect. It sums up the albums message and purpose in one song, encouraging people to stand up and fight for what they deserve. It’s a great conclusion. As I said, RTJ3 is a more politically charged album lyrically, with several bangers in between, but there is for sure more focus on the subject matter in this album. RTJ has always talked about society and politics, but it was the main thing of this album. It’s longer than the past RTJ and RTJ2 coming in at 14 songs, and it’s production style can very clearly sound different. As good as it is, I still personally feel like it’s ending was a bit rocky, and maybe the album had a few too many songs in it. Instead of being more straight forward, it extends the topic over several songs. I cannot hate it at all for this, but I do have to say that out of the main 3, this is my least favorite, though not by much, as it is still an amazing album.
BEST SONG: Panther Like A Panther
WORST SONG: Thieves!
SCORE: 9/10
