Run the Jewels Make a Fuming Return

Killer Mike and El-P, the emcees of rap duo Run the Jewels, are back at it again and more energized than ever. “Run the Jewels 2” is the follow-up to Killer Mike and El-P’s first album, “Run the Jewels” (RTJ isn’t known for its originality in naming). The album’s premature leak immediately began an internet frenzy. Twitter users joked that the high-powered album was causing the spontaneous combustion of their phones and computers. The album lives up to its hype: its frantic beats and powerful production are immersive and addicting.

“Run the Jewels 2” holds nothing back, combining a fiery tone with strikingly political themes. Every single track launches a new attack of high-energy beats and RTJ’s characteristically angry lyrics. RTJ’s second album takes the frustrated, heavy-hitting sounds of its predecessor and intensifies them, carrying them through 11 unrelenting songs.

It makes sense that the album is positioned as a sequel to “Run the Jewels”—if you’re in the market for a rap album that’s experimental or groundbreaking, look elsewhere. Rather, “Run the Jewels 2” builds upon Killer Mike and El-P’s already-established sounds, taming and mixing the house beats of albums like “Yeezus” with the crazed aggression of artists like Death Grips. It’s the more outgoing and daring younger brother of “Run the Jewels” but immensely thrilling and catchy in its own right.

“Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck),” the album’s fourth track, is the ultimate angry rap anthem and the energetic crux of “Run the Jewels 2.” Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha defines the track with a frenetically catchy verse of “run them jewels fast” punctuated with heavy bass, the kind of pounding beat that will likely make this track a huge commercial success. Killer Mike’s verses in “Close Your Eyes” are worth noting: marked by frustration with the prison system, Mike’s verses don’t hesitate to embrace a few political lines. “Conditions create a villain, the villain is givin’ vision / The vision becomes a vow to seek vengeance on all the vicious / Liars and politicians, profiteers of the prisons,” he raps.

A timely anger with America’s justice system is found throughout the album, weaponizing the work’s already-impassioned tone. Killer Mike makes no attempt to hold back his disillusionment in “Early (feat. Boots)”: “’Cause I respect the badge and the gun / And I pray today ain’t the day that you drag me away / Right in front of my beautiful son.” In a voice that’s unusually resigned, rapped over dark synths and rough electro, Killer Mike voices his powerlessness to the cops that patrol his neighborhood. El-P chimes in with a more troubling grievance, adding, “They’ll watch you walk to the store they’re recording / But it didn’t record cop when he shot no warning.” Although the verses were written prior to Ferguson, RTJ has long been outspoken on issues of police brutality and racism, so it’s little surprise these lyrics make an appearance in “Run the Jewels 2.”

That being said, much of the album’s content is standard, bombastic rap fare. The first track, “Jeopardy,” immediately confronts the listener with lines like “You might wanna record the way you feelin’ like history bein’ made,” or “Prevail through Hell, so Satan get thee behind me.” But in a world of self-styled gods like Kanye West, what is a rap album without a healthy dose of boasting?

Bragging, angry, or political, “Run the Jewels 2” is an immensely enjoyable listen. RTJ has managed to craft an animated work that’s both catchy and conducive to political commentary. It’ll leave you bobbing your head, vaguely angry at the world, certainly waiting to hear more from rap’s furious power duo.