el-p

Run The Jewels Bring The High-Energy ‘Ooh La La’ To ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

by

Jimmy Kimmel Live aired from New York City’s Brooklyn Academy Of Music for the first time in three years on Monday night (September 26). To mark the occasion, Kimmel welcomed famous New Yorkers Charlamagne Tha God and Amy Schumer. It was Brooklyn-bred El-P and Atlanta’s very own Killer Mike, best known as innovative hip-hop duo Run The Jewels, who stole the show with “Ooh La La” featuring Greg Nice and DJ Premier.

The high-energy performance showcased RTJ’s natural command of any and every stage, but it was relatively tame compared to the April 2020 “Ooh La La” music video that trashed piles of money and “imagined the world on the day that the age old struggle of class was finally over.” The provocative track is housed on RTJ4, their fourth studio album that dropped in June 2020. RTJ4 (Deluxe Edition) arrived in September 2021.

There were glimmers of hope that RTJ’s fifth studio album might be cooking this spring. Nothing has been confirmed, but RTJ are plenty active anyway.

RTJ played the main stage at Coachella in April. They opened on tour for Rage Against The Machine throughout the summer, including five nights at Madison Square Garden in August. Around the same time, they stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform RTJ4 track “A Few Words For The Firing Squad.” And earlier this month, RTJ released their theme song for Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm

Watch RTJ on Kimmel above.

Run The Jewels Made A Hard-Hitting New ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force’ Theme Song For An Upcoming Movie

by

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the show that just won’t die, as it’s enjoyed multiple distinct runs since it debuted way back in 2000. A new movie, which would later be titled Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm, was announced earlier this year and now there’s a new trailer for the film. Furthermore, there’s something for music fans to sink their teeth into as well, as Run The Jewels have created a new theme song for the movie. Some of it can be heard in a new trailer that premiered today.

Killer Mike and El-P are an unsurprising pick to do a new Aqua Teen theme song, as they’ve long enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Adult Swim. A couple years ago, they performed the network’s first live concert, dubbed “Holy Calamavote.” They also teamed up with Rick And Morty for some exclusive merch in 2016, they’ve shared new music as part of the Adult Swim Singles series, and they just performed at the Adult Swim Festival Block Party earlier this month.

It’s currently unclear if the movie will get a theatrical release, although it is set to be available in digital formats and on Blu-ray on November 8.

Check out the Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm trailer above.

Run The Jewels Stage A Rebellious ‘Late Show’ Performance Of ‘A Few Words For The Firing Squad’

by

When Run The Jewels dropped their fourth album in June 2020, they closed the album with the rambunctious “A Few Words For The Firing Squad.” It was a bold and fitting choice; the album was released at the height of several uprisings against police brutality, particularly against the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The punishing track stressed their distrust of the system and commitment to fighting back by any means necessary.

It has been a couple of years and a whole heap of new problems has appeared to burden the average American citizen with worries about pox viruses, inflation, and the loss of bodily autonomy, but “A Few Words For The Firing Squad” remains as poignant and timely as ever. El-P and Killer Mike stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to remind viewers that there’s still a fight for justice going on even amidst the slog of daily life during a pandemic.

With a stripped-down that highlighted the lyrics and message in lieu of an elaborate light show, Mike and P rap their verses without a drum track. Only a lone saxophonist accompanies them, growing more urgent and frantic as their rhymes do. You can catch the boys performing the song — and others — on their tour with Rage Against The Machine.

Watch Run The Jewels perform “A Few Words For The Firing Squad” from their fourth album on The Late Show above.

Black Thought & Danger Mouse Invite ASAP Rocky And Run The Jewels To Drop Ballistic Bars On ‘Strangers’

by

In just a few days, Black Thought & Danger Mouse’s collaborative album Cheat Codes comes out, and they couldn’t resist giving fans just one more preview of what’s to come. After dropping videos for “No Gold Teeth,” “Because” with Joey Badass and Russ, and “Aquamarine,” the rapper-producer duo has unleashed one final posse cut on the world featuring the truly jaw-dropping lineup of Tariq, ASAP Rocky, and Run The Jewels. It’s called “Strangers,” and you can check it out above.

Featuring a signature Danger Mouse beat with a murky, breakbeat-laden soul loop, “Strangers” finds the four MCs spitting multisyllabic verses with no hook, simply beating listeners over the head with bars until there’s nothing left to do but shrug and say, “Those boys are RAPPIN’ rappin’.” Let the debate about who’s got the best verse begin.

In addition to the aforementioned names, Cheat Codes will also feature rap titans such as Conway The Machine, Raekwon The Chef, and the late, great MF DOOM, with whom Danger Mouse rose to prominence in the early 2000s with the Adult Swim-backed collab project The Mouse And The Mask as Danger Doom. The album is dropping on Friday, 8/12 via BMG.

Listen to Black Thought & Danger Mouse’s “Strangers” featuring ASAP Rocky, El-P, and Killer Mike above.

El-P Catches COVID, Forcing Run The Jewels To Withdraw From The Something In The Water Festival

by
Run The Jewels Killer Mile El-P All Points East Festival 2019
Getty Image

While we have created a new sense of normal in our COVID-19-stricken world, the threat of the virus is still present. In some unfortunate news, Twitter users learned that Run The Jewels will no longer be able to perform at Something In The Water this weekend because El-P tested positive. He sent out a public notes app apology coupled with the humorous caption, “looks like i picked the wrong month to stop sniffing glue” (a reference to the 1980 movie Airplane!).

Something In The Water is a three-day festival founded in 2019, and this is the first year it is going to be held in Washington DC. The lineup includes names like Tyler The Creator, Lil Baby, Lucky Daye, Usher, Ashanti and Ja Rule, J Balvin, Pharrell, Clipse, Justin Timberlake, SZA, NORE, and many more.

With it being nearly a full year since Run The Jewels released RTJ4 (Deluxe Edition), fans will now have to a little longer for a big festival set from the group. There are over four decades of history between El-P and Killer Mike both as individuals and together, yet they are still in high demand evident in the many well wishes shared with El-P.

Check out the El-P’s announcement above.

Run The Jewels Has Started Recording What Could Be Their Fifth Album

by
run the jewels new album
Getty Image

After performing at Coachella this past weekend, it looks like El-P and Killer Mike are now hard at work on their next Run The Jewels album. In a new interview with Consequence, Killer Mike revealed that he was recently in the studio with his partner-in-rhyme, where they apparently planted the seeds of the follow-up to their 2021 album, RTJ4. “I say this with a smile and a wink — me and El-P were in the studio together,” he said. “We may have messed around and started Run the Jewels 5. So we’ll see what happens.”

However, he also said that plans weren’t exactly solidified during that session. “I never know what I’m planning,” he admitted. “But what I do plan right now is actually completing one of the greatest tours ever in Run the Jewels and Rage Against the Machine.” That tour was rescheduled after postponing part of the tour due to the ongoing pandemic (which, you know, never actually ended). Coachella marked the duo’s return to the stage after performing at Atlanta’s Shaky Knees Festival in October and are planning to take the stage again at Boston Calling after weekend two of Coachella.

Just because they aren’t sure that their latest session will result in a new RTJ album, though, Mike allowed that there would more music from the duo in the future. “I would say look for Run the Jewels to pop up on some guest appearances,” he said. “I’ve done some solo guest appearances as well. So just look for more music to be coming out period.”

El-P Announces Reissues of Albums in Solo Album Catalog

by
unnamed 5

El-P, one half of the powerhouse rap duo Run the Jewels, has announced that the reissue campaign for his entire solo catalog will include deluxe 2xLP vinyl editions of his critically acclaimed and massively influential albums Fantastic Damage, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, and Cancer 4 Cure, in honor of their respective 20th, 15th, and 10th anniversaries.

unnamed 6

The trio of albums will be released by Fat Possum Records next month, after the label’s much-lauded digital reissues of Fantastic Damage and I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead in 2020, none of which had previously been available on digital streaming services. The new editions, which are now available for pre-order straight from the label, come packaged in a gatefold jacket on limited edition colored vinyl, reissuing the albums for the first time in years and marking the first vinyl printing of Fantastic Damage since 2010.

“this is a thank you letter to everyone who has helped and allowed me to live my life doing the music and art i love. to everyone who has been moved in some way by what i do, to everyone who has been listening from the beginning, to those that stuck with me as i changed and grew and to everybody who’s just discovered the music.   

i’ve always focused on the next piece. i’ve always only run to my future. but despite my habit of not looking back much, this year marks the 20th (FANTASTIC DAMAGE), 15th (I’LL SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD) and 10th (CANCER 4 CURE) anniversaries of the major records in my solo career and it feels good to get them back on vinyl and into whomever’s hands might want them.  

but most of all it feels good to just be here. still allowed to do what i love, still thrilled about it in every way.  

so again, thank you.

love, 

el-p”

The post El-P Announces Reissues of Albums in Solo Album Catalog appeared first on The Source.

El-P Is Reissuing Deluxe Vinyl Editions Of His Three Iconic Solo Albums On Fat Possum

by

Before Run The Jewels changed his life, vaulting him to indie hip-hop super stardom with his partner Killer Mike, El-P was making future-forward hip-hop on his own. An OG of the independent hip-hop movement, El-P first name a made for himself as a producer with Company Flow in the late 90s, but built even deeper cult fan bases with his three studio albums.

This year, Fantastic Damage, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, and Cancer For Cure are celebrating their 20th, 15th, and 10th anniversaries, respectively. Always one to cater to his rabid fan base, El-P is reissuing all three via 2LP deluxe vinyl editions with Fat Possum Records. It’ll also mark the first time since 2010 that Fantastic Damage is being pressed on vinyl.

Never one to mince words, El-P shared a statement on the reissues:

“this is a thank you letter to everyone who has helped and allowed me to live my life doing the music and art i love. to everyone who has been moved in some way by what i do, to everyone who has been listening from the beginning, to those that stuck with me as i changed and grew and to everybody who’s just discovered the music.

i’ve always focused on the next piece. i’ve always only run to my future. but despite my habit of not looking back much, this year marks the 20th (FANTASTIC DAMAGE), 15th (I’LL SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD) and 10th (CANCER 4 CURE) anniversaries of the major records in my solo career and it feels good to get them back on vinyl and into whomever’s hands might want them.

but most of all it feels good to just be here. still allowed to do what i love, still thrilled about it in every way.

so again, thank you.

love,

el-p”

Watch a trailer for the reissue series above and pre-order the releases, which are now on sale here.

Hip-Hop Diss Tracks That Are Better Than Songs They Respond To

by
These clapbacks are better than the songs they responded to. Continue reading…