Run the Jewels - RTJ4 ALBUM REVIEW
Killer Mike and El-P, better known together as Run the Jewels, are angry. Mike has been one of the most vocal supporters of Black Lives Matter and he recently went viral because of his passionate speech last week. For a couple of months now, RTJ has been preparing for their fourth studio album as a duo. I don’t want to get into every detail of the movement on a music blog, but this is a topic that’s very important to me. Killer Mike and El-P know this as well, and it feels almost prophetic that RTJ4 is here in this hour. Let’s get into it.
RTJ4 is a political hip-hop record, with an emphasis on political. A typical RTJ song has bombastic production and aggressive and in your face delivery, and every track has that in some capacity. Every song is a punch to the face and every lyric an anthem to a world we wish we were living in. It's music to stir around in your system and to make you pissed off. If you want a visualizer, just imagine a burning building. With all of RTJ4’s aggression, it never feels stale. It’s always unique and changing, like most of RTJ projects.
How can you be disappointed with this? That’s a genuine question. RTJ4, like the rest of their records, is the soundtrack to the revolution and the apocalypse all at once, and it’s never been as timely as now. This isn’t just political music: it's ‘fuck you’ music. It's the end of the world bangers that you can't help but take in. It's a giant bowl of destruction that I can't help but witness from a CLOSE distance.
RTJ4 is a middle finger to the world. The short but compact 40 minutes flies in like a grenade that’s about to blow your head open. I won’t be surprised if this album, specifically the tracks “walking in the snow” and “a few words from the firing squad (radiation),” becomes an anthem for this decade. Like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, RTJ4 will go down in history as one of the most important releases in not just hip-hop, but music in general. I will forever remember the experience that is RTJ4.
10/10
Stream RTJ4 here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube Music
RTJ4 is a political hip-hop record, with an emphasis on political. A typical RTJ song has bombastic production and aggressive and in your face delivery, and every track has that in some capacity. Every song is a punch to the face and every lyric an anthem to a world we wish we were living in. It's music to stir around in your system and to make you pissed off. If you want a visualizer, just imagine a burning building. With all of RTJ4’s aggression, it never feels stale. It’s always unique and changing, like most of RTJ projects.
How can you be disappointed with this? That’s a genuine question. RTJ4, like the rest of their records, is the soundtrack to the revolution and the apocalypse all at once, and it’s never been as timely as now. This isn’t just political music: it's ‘fuck you’ music. It's the end of the world bangers that you can't help but take in. It's a giant bowl of destruction that I can't help but witness from a CLOSE distance.
RTJ4 is a middle finger to the world. The short but compact 40 minutes flies in like a grenade that’s about to blow your head open. I won’t be surprised if this album, specifically the tracks “walking in the snow” and “a few words from the firing squad (radiation),” becomes an anthem for this decade. Like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, RTJ4 will go down in history as one of the most important releases in not just hip-hop, but music in general. I will forever remember the experience that is RTJ4.
10/10
Stream RTJ4 here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube Music
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