A Track-By-Track Deep Dive Into Run The Jewels' 'RTJ4'

  • A Track-By-Track Deep Dive Into Run The Jewels' 'RTJ4'
    POSTED


    Run The Jewels

    Run The Jewels, the potent duo of El-P and Killer Mike, have surprise-dropped their fourth album RTJ 4 a day ahead of schedule. It’s in direct response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement escalated by the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Minneapolis man who was a victim of police brutality. In a statement, RTJ wrote, “The world is infested with bullshit so here’s something raw to listen to while you deal with it all.” It’s a powerful, poignant listen and we’ve tried to spotlight its integral moments below track-by-track. 

    Run The Jewels are giving the album away for free on their website with optional donations going to the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Fund which provides legal support for political activists, protestors and movements for social change. We encourage you to donate if you can. 

    Yankee and the brave (ep.4)

    Producers: El-P, Wilder Schwartz, Torbitt Schwartz

    Key Lyric: Part of them isn't workin' 'til every pockets been picked and sold and harvested

    You always know that a Run The Jewels album opener is going to be powerful but this one goes even harder. Beginning with Mike rapping over strobing, gun-shot beats he declares, “Back at it like a crack addict, Mr. Black Magic.” It’s an arresting return from a duo that hasn’t released an album in four years. El-P, meanwhile takes swipes at the billionaire class for “harvesting” money from the working class who essentially do all the labor to make them money. “Part of them isn't workin' 'til every pockets been picked and sold and harvested,” he raps.

    Ooh La La (Feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier)

    Producers: El-P, Wilder Schwartz, Torbitt Schwartz

    Key Lyric: “First of all, fuck the fuckin' law, we is fuckin' raw.”

    Run The Jewels come through with one of their most magnetic hooks yet, laying it down over a steely, key-led beat. As always, it’s a rap onslaught with El-P and MIke nerding out over having two of hip-hop’s most seminal names on a track in Greg Nice and DJ Premier. They sound like they’re having the time of their life, in control of the beat, with lines like, “No matter what you order, motherfucker, we're what you're stuck with.” RTJ have always smiled through the anarchy and that’s never more apparent that in Mike’s line, “First of all, fuck the fuckin' law, we is fuckin' raw/Steak tartare, oysters on the half-shell, sushi bar.”

    Out Of Sight (Feat. 2 Chainz) 

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “You know I’m poppin’, the product of fuckin poverty.”

    The first outsider rap verse of the set belongs to 2 Chainz. Killer Mike and 2 Chainz are both from Georgia and that hometown bond extends to the ease of the track. The appreciation for hip-hop’s origins are all over this from the scratching to Mike’s shoutout to Raekwon and Ghostface of Wu-Tang Clan. There are few hip-hop acts out there right now that can sound like they existed in another era and still be pushing the genre forward. It’s interesting to hear 2 Chainz, a rapper who effortlessly competes on contemporary charts, sitting in a beat like this. His flow is different to Mike and El-P but he’s blistering here opening with, “You know I’m poppin', the product of fuckin poverty.”

    Holy Calamafuck

    Producers: BOOTS, Dave Sitek, El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “Until you rob a hype beast, you ain’t seen sadness.”

    This whole record is full of movie references and Mike comes through with one early on here comparing himself to Michael Meyers in Halloween. RTJ have always seen themselves as underdogs in a way. It’s strange, to an extent, as they’ve always been ahead of the conversation, but that kind of energy brings a potency to their alliance. “Ayy, we forever-ever,” feels celebratory here as El-P raps it. This is their strongest partnership on the record yet. They trade lines in the first bar and then beam each other up for a stunning beat change that only gets more climatic. Recently Mike told the NY Times, “I get a chance to rap over El-P beats. This is Ice Cube and Bomb Squad. This is Mike Dean and Scarface. This is Snoop and Dre. Why would you want to do anything else?” You can feel that appreciation mutually here. 

    Goonies vs. E.T.

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “We’re nothing to fuck with.”

    Five tracks in and they haven’t let up at all. It’s still a powerful, chaotic combustion of shuddering beats and unrelenting raps. Goonies Vs. E.T. feels particularly immediate. “Maybe if I had another chance, I would give another chance to you,” the hook rings as El-P depicts live as a video game with only one life. “Fuck y'all got another planet on stash?

    Far from the fact of the flames of our trash,” he raps addressing climate change while Mike takes swipes at social activism. “Now I understand that woke folk be playin' / Ain't no revolution is televised and digitized,” he raps. It feels particularly poignant as #BlackLivesMatter activists wrestle with media outlets depicting violence rather than peaceful protests, twisting stories and further accentuating racial stereotypes. Meanwhile, “woke folk” can pledge their support with a black Instagram square and then go silent. 

    Walking In Snow

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “'til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, "I can't breathe"”

    This one hits at a different pace but it doubles down on the strength of the beat with chanting crowds and rock-infused synths. This is a track that’s likely to soundtrack the current #BlackLivesMatter movement. It’s hard to believe Mike’s words weren’t recorded in direct response but it’s also a reminder that none of the atrocities are new. Mike’s verse will go down as one of the best of the year and you should read the entire thing but this part hits particularly hard:

    And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me

    And 'til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, "I can't breathe"

    And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV

    The most you give's a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy

    “I can’t breathe” were the last words of both George Floyd and Eric Garner who was killed by an NYPD officer in 2014. Social media activism is a key motif of this album and the final line above aptly calls out outrage online. Few keep that same energy, returning to regular programming while those facing injustice live with it every day. 

    JU$T (Feat. Pharrell & Zack De La Rocha)

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “Your country gettin’ ran by a casino owner.”

    You’re not going to expect a beat like this when Pharrell arrives with his usual malleable hook at the beginning but RTJ seize it. The poor feeding the rich is another key motif on this record and this song deals with it the most explicitly. “Look at all these slave masters posin' on yo' dollar,” directly referring to the US dollar, featuring US presidents who owned slaves. El-P, Mike, Pharrell and Zack De La Rocha are out for blood on this one exposing every rich corrupt man. “Your country gettin’ ran by a casino owner,” Mike raps, referring to Trump, continuing, “Pedophiles sponsor all these fuckin' racist bastards,” swiping at Jeffery Epstein. De La Rocha, who offers guest verses to nobody but RTJ, is right back on form here asking, “How can we be the peace? / When the beast gonna reach for the worst.”

    Never Look Back

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “If you get bitter, you will never get better.”

    The beat gets darker on Never Look Back as the synth circles like it’s from a thriller film. Never Look Back is unsurprisingly about staying in the present but both El-P and Killer Mike’s verses are autobiographical. Still, Mike ends on some wise words rapping Never look back, you will only get bitter, If you get bitter, you will never get better,” while further concluding, “Never get bigger then you never make cheddar.”

    The Ground Below

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

    Key Lyric: “Opinion don't matter stick to your plan.”

    Rage Against The Machine’s fingerprints have been all over RTJ albums in the past. Interestingly, the rock influence doesn’t creep into RTJ4 until this moment The Ground Below. It’s a furious, rumbling tune that forces forward with a guitar. It samples Gang Of Four’s Ether and El-P makes reference to that in his opening remark, “Born from the ether I just appeared out a cloud a reefer.” All of RTJ’s most powerful moments arise when they band together and refuse to change their path. That’s on full display here as Mike finishes with, “Opinion don't matter stick to your plan.”

    Pulling The Pin (Feat. Mavis Staples & Josh Homme)

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby, Josh Homme

    Key Lyric: “And at best I'm just getting it wrong / And at worst I’ve been right from the start.”

    Soul, rap and rock collide on this unlikely collaboration with Mavis Staples and Josh Homme. There’s a lot of pain in this track and it’s goosebump-inducing stuff. Staples’ bridge is particularly stark as she sings, “And at best I'm just getting it wrong / And at worst I’ve been right from the start.” El-P and Mike’s verses read like manifestos and are delivered with unwavering strength. Mike’s verse takes us to a dark place with an image of him sitting on the edge of his bed holding a pistol. “Why the fuck must I be miserable,” he asks, continuing, “These filthy criminals, sit at the pinnacle / Doin' the typical, keepin' us miserable / Takin' the most and providin' the minimal.” It’s his fastest verse of the record but you hear every single word. An incredible moment on the record. 

    A Few Words For The Firing Squad (Radiation)

    Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby, Josh Homme

    Key Lyric: “Go hard, last words to the firing squad was, "Fuck you too."

    RTJ never go out on a soft note and they’re not changing that for RTJ4. El-P builds the intensity of this 6-minute epic from the start as he’s surrounded by distant brass and rollicking percussion. It feels like a storm is brewing and it hovers over the song anxiously. Mike addresses his Mother’s 2017 passing and his relationship with his wife. He notes that his friends have told her he could be the next Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. but she needs a “husband not a political martyr.” “Black child in America, the fact that I made it was magic,” he raps as he dedicates the song to all those who died fighting for black justice. His parting words are, “Go hard, last words to the firing squad was, "Fuck you too." After that, the storm finally hits with the circling brass carrying the song away in a fury.

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Run The Jewels

Run The Jewels, the potent duo of El-P and Killer Mike, have surprise-dropped their fourth album RTJ 4 a day ahead of schedule. It’s in direct response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement escalated by the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Minneapolis man who was a victim of police brutality. In a statement, RTJ wrote, “The world is infested with bullshit so here’s something raw to listen to while you deal with it all.” It’s a powerful, poignant listen and we’ve tried to spotlight its integral moments below track-by-track. 

Run The Jewels are giving the album away for free on their website with optional donations going to the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Fund which provides legal support for political activists, protestors and movements for social change. We encourage you to donate if you can. 

Yankee and the brave (ep.4)

Producers: El-P, Wilder Schwartz, Torbitt Schwartz

Key Lyric: Part of them isn't workin' 'til every pockets been picked and sold and harvested

You always know that a Run The Jewels album opener is going to be powerful but this one goes even harder. Beginning with Mike rapping over strobing, gun-shot beats he declares, “Back at it like a crack addict, Mr. Black Magic.” It’s an arresting return from a duo that hasn’t released an album in four years. El-P, meanwhile takes swipes at the billionaire class for “harvesting” money from the working class who essentially do all the labor to make them money. “Part of them isn't workin' 'til every pockets been picked and sold and harvested,” he raps.

Ooh La La (Feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier)

Producers: El-P, Wilder Schwartz, Torbitt Schwartz

Key Lyric: “First of all, fuck the fuckin' law, we is fuckin' raw.”

Run The Jewels come through with one of their most magnetic hooks yet, laying it down over a steely, key-led beat. As always, it’s a rap onslaught with El-P and MIke nerding out over having two of hip-hop’s most seminal names on a track in Greg Nice and DJ Premier. They sound like they’re having the time of their life, in control of the beat, with lines like, “No matter what you order, motherfucker, we're what you're stuck with.” RTJ have always smiled through the anarchy and that’s never more apparent that in Mike’s line, “First of all, fuck the fuckin' law, we is fuckin' raw/Steak tartare, oysters on the half-shell, sushi bar.”

Out Of Sight (Feat. 2 Chainz) 

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “You know I’m poppin’, the product of fuckin poverty.”

The first outsider rap verse of the set belongs to 2 Chainz. Killer Mike and 2 Chainz are both from Georgia and that hometown bond extends to the ease of the track. The appreciation for hip-hop’s origins are all over this from the scratching to Mike’s shoutout to Raekwon and Ghostface of Wu-Tang Clan. There are few hip-hop acts out there right now that can sound like they existed in another era and still be pushing the genre forward. It’s interesting to hear 2 Chainz, a rapper who effortlessly competes on contemporary charts, sitting in a beat like this. His flow is different to Mike and El-P but he’s blistering here opening with, “You know I’m poppin', the product of fuckin poverty.”

Holy Calamafuck

Producers: BOOTS, Dave Sitek, El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “Until you rob a hype beast, you ain’t seen sadness.”

This whole record is full of movie references and Mike comes through with one early on here comparing himself to Michael Meyers in Halloween. RTJ have always seen themselves as underdogs in a way. It’s strange, to an extent, as they’ve always been ahead of the conversation, but that kind of energy brings a potency to their alliance. “Ayy, we forever-ever,” feels celebratory here as El-P raps it. This is their strongest partnership on the record yet. They trade lines in the first bar and then beam each other up for a stunning beat change that only gets more climatic. Recently Mike told the NY Times, “I get a chance to rap over El-P beats. This is Ice Cube and Bomb Squad. This is Mike Dean and Scarface. This is Snoop and Dre. Why would you want to do anything else?” You can feel that appreciation mutually here. 

Goonies vs. E.T.

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “We’re nothing to fuck with.”

Five tracks in and they haven’t let up at all. It’s still a powerful, chaotic combustion of shuddering beats and unrelenting raps. Goonies Vs. E.T. feels particularly immediate. “Maybe if I had another chance, I would give another chance to you,” the hook rings as El-P depicts live as a video game with only one life. “Fuck y'all got another planet on stash?

Far from the fact of the flames of our trash,” he raps addressing climate change while Mike takes swipes at social activism. “Now I understand that woke folk be playin' / Ain't no revolution is televised and digitized,” he raps. It feels particularly poignant as #BlackLivesMatter activists wrestle with media outlets depicting violence rather than peaceful protests, twisting stories and further accentuating racial stereotypes. Meanwhile, “woke folk” can pledge their support with a black Instagram square and then go silent. 

Walking In Snow

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “'til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, "I can't breathe"”

This one hits at a different pace but it doubles down on the strength of the beat with chanting crowds and rock-infused synths. This is a track that’s likely to soundtrack the current #BlackLivesMatter movement. It’s hard to believe Mike’s words weren’t recorded in direct response but it’s also a reminder that none of the atrocities are new. Mike’s verse will go down as one of the best of the year and you should read the entire thing but this part hits particularly hard:

And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me

And 'til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, "I can't breathe"

And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV

The most you give's a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy

“I can’t breathe” were the last words of both George Floyd and Eric Garner who was killed by an NYPD officer in 2014. Social media activism is a key motif of this album and the final line above aptly calls out outrage online. Few keep that same energy, returning to regular programming while those facing injustice live with it every day. 

JU$T (Feat. Pharrell & Zack De La Rocha)

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “Your country gettin’ ran by a casino owner.”

You’re not going to expect a beat like this when Pharrell arrives with his usual malleable hook at the beginning but RTJ seize it. The poor feeding the rich is another key motif on this record and this song deals with it the most explicitly. “Look at all these slave masters posin' on yo' dollar,” directly referring to the US dollar, featuring US presidents who owned slaves. El-P, Mike, Pharrell and Zack De La Rocha are out for blood on this one exposing every rich corrupt man. “Your country gettin’ ran by a casino owner,” Mike raps, referring to Trump, continuing, “Pedophiles sponsor all these fuckin' racist bastards,” swiping at Jeffery Epstein. De La Rocha, who offers guest verses to nobody but RTJ, is right back on form here asking, “How can we be the peace? / When the beast gonna reach for the worst.”

Never Look Back

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “If you get bitter, you will never get better.”

The beat gets darker on Never Look Back as the synth circles like it’s from a thriller film. Never Look Back is unsurprisingly about staying in the present but both El-P and Killer Mike’s verses are autobiographical. Still, Mike ends on some wise words rapping Never look back, you will only get bitter, If you get bitter, you will never get better,” while further concluding, “Never get bigger then you never make cheddar.”

The Ground Below

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby

Key Lyric: “Opinion don't matter stick to your plan.”

Rage Against The Machine’s fingerprints have been all over RTJ albums in the past. Interestingly, the rock influence doesn’t creep into RTJ4 until this moment The Ground Below. It’s a furious, rumbling tune that forces forward with a guitar. It samples Gang Of Four’s Ether and El-P makes reference to that in his opening remark, “Born from the ether I just appeared out a cloud a reefer.” All of RTJ’s most powerful moments arise when they band together and refuse to change their path. That’s on full display here as Mike finishes with, “Opinion don't matter stick to your plan.”

Pulling The Pin (Feat. Mavis Staples & Josh Homme)

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby, Josh Homme

Key Lyric: “And at best I'm just getting it wrong / And at worst I’ve been right from the start.”

Soul, rap and rock collide on this unlikely collaboration with Mavis Staples and Josh Homme. There’s a lot of pain in this track and it’s goosebump-inducing stuff. Staples’ bridge is particularly stark as she sings, “And at best I'm just getting it wrong / And at worst I’ve been right from the start.” El-P and Mike’s verses read like manifestos and are delivered with unwavering strength. Mike’s verse takes us to a dark place with an image of him sitting on the edge of his bed holding a pistol. “Why the fuck must I be miserable,” he asks, continuing, “These filthy criminals, sit at the pinnacle / Doin' the typical, keepin' us miserable / Takin' the most and providin' the minimal.” It’s his fastest verse of the record but you hear every single word. An incredible moment on the record. 

A Few Words For The Firing Squad (Radiation)

Producers: El-P, Little Shalimar, Wilder Zoby, Josh Homme

Key Lyric: “Go hard, last words to the firing squad was, "Fuck you too."

RTJ never go out on a soft note and they’re not changing that for RTJ4. El-P builds the intensity of this 6-minute epic from the start as he’s surrounded by distant brass and rollicking percussion. It feels like a storm is brewing and it hovers over the song anxiously. Mike addresses his Mother’s 2017 passing and his relationship with his wife. He notes that his friends have told her he could be the next Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. but she needs a “husband not a political martyr.” “Black child in America, the fact that I made it was magic,” he raps as he dedicates the song to all those who died fighting for black justice. His parting words are, “Go hard, last words to the firing squad was, "Fuck you too." After that, the storm finally hits with the circling brass carrying the song away in a fury.

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