Probably my favourite current hip hop act. Killer Mikeās jaw dropping verses and El-Pās phenomenal production, second only to DOOMā¦ a strong 4 elevated to a 5 on the basis of Walking In The Snow alone.
3 Likes
Iām sure everyone has seen this already but if not, it is utterly phenomenal.
7 Likes
Easily three of my favourite releases of the year too!
7 Likes
Itās the same producer on that record whoās part of the SAULT stuff (Inflo). He also produced the last couple of Michael Kiwanuka albums as well I think.
1 Like
Guess Iām going on an Inflo binge, then. thanks!
Yeah, saw the whole show that that song was onā¦āthat bitā was one of the most incredible, powerful things Iāve ever seen. Mindblowing stuff.
1 Like
It definitely had more impact coming when it did - say what you will about the songs themselves but RTJ know sequencing - but Iām really glad thereās an isolated video of it
think iād give them a 2 in a hip hop thread but on here ill bump to a 3, also feel fine about that since ive given bumps for artists solo/past work on other hgatrs. i think ant, chairman, littlebirds and others have pretty much said what i would say in one form or another. its a rap group i really dont talk about or listen to or care to engage with but i love that they exist and that theyve crossed over. ive given all their albums at least one listen but have never felt the need to go back. thatās barring rap music which is easily the pinnacle of this partnership and has held up quite well imo.
at first i was thinking these guys would get the highest ranking spot for a hiphop artist/group but the thread is playing out more appropriately than i imagined.
wish he woulda got better production from southern producers when he was coming on. or that he woulda got outkast affiliated before their last good album (snappin and trappin is one of the great weird rap songs)cos it woulda been cool to hear him over some prime organize noize production.
i do like km over southern bangers tho
i should add that i quite like el-p as a rapper. think heās got a good rap voice and a frantic energy that works on record. but it can grate over an albums worth of material.
6 Likes
A three from me. I enjoy their stuff when itās on but it has no draw at all for me. Not sure why, just somehow find it a bit exhausting to listen to
Itās funny when this kicks in, can be hard to explain it sometimes. Iāve never fallen in love with At the Drive-In for exactly the same reason, they always just seem a bit unrelenting (or at least RoC as an album was)
1 Like
Yeah as I wrote that I was trying to work out why I didnāt tend to find the same thing with exactly that sort of music.
Itās possible that I just never listen to Run The Jewels when Iām in the right mood. Maybe next time I reach for loud rock I should reach for RTJ and then itāll fix in and become one of those albums that puts me in a good mood.
Yeah RoC is relentless, but the earlier stuff does have a bit more breathing room (not as many drugs at play probably). Vaya * In/Casno/Out are good for this
1 Like
Yeah they were never my band like they are for some people, but they have great moments
Star Slight might still be my favourite tracks of theirs though
1 Like
Kind of echo what others have said here.
Really like them both individually, Cancer For Cure & RAP Music weāre both top 5 of 2012 for me and nothing they have done together as RTJ touches that.
Mike is a great rapper, El is a cracking producer, and Iām really glad they exist and even though theyāve never made an album I adore theyāve got a couple of absolute tunes.
Wouldnāt be near my first choice if I was throwing on a hip-hop album though. Although as a gateway to other stuff I think they are probably really successful.
Itās a 3 because they are a ton of fun live & are both really good guys who you canāt help but like.
Listening to Jay Electronicaās Act 2 for the first time. If only heād finished this and mixed it properlyā¦ could have been one of the great albums.
1 Like
Would add Chris Crack to this listā¦
Heās new on me, but particularly loving āWhite People Love Algorithmsā. Sound is a bit of a throwback but tons of fun.
1 Like
You can run backwards through a field of dicks, m9
2 Likes
I love Chris Crack. Canāt stop listening to Hoes at Trader Joeās lol. Think he just released his 4th project from this year.
2 Likes
My most played song of 2020. So so so good.
1 Like
So I get the criticism of RTJ being for bearded rock fans. I guess Iām one, and itās been over a decade since Iāve been so excited by a rap album as RTJ4.
But I think one thing thatās not been directly discussed in this thread is its political appeal. And not just Walking in the Snow: the ethos of the whole album is one jubilant middle finger to political and economic greed and the structures that defend it, and thatās something I can really get behind. In that sense, itās comparable to Jeff Rosenstockās NO DREAM, which, like RTJ4, is one of my favourite albums of the year.
(Itās also why I prefer RTJ4 as an album to their previous ones, even RTJ2, because, well, at 34 Iām exhausted by the prospect of having any genitalia in my mouth for more than 15 minutes, let alone all day.)
Iām no doubt massively out of touch, but one reason Iāve struggled to engage with the genre in recent years has been an inability to relate to the world it depicts. I canāt pretend to be a middle-class gully badman like I could when I was 18, and Iāve found myself increasingly using punk and emo as a way to quell my concerns about the alt-right, collapsing democratic norms and political antipathy. If I can find more hip-hop or rap that confronts that stuff in 2020, then Iām all here for it.
Anything with the same energy as Sons of Kemetās My Queen is Doreen Lawrence, for example:
5 Likes