Since they formed in 2013, Run The Jewels has released powerful hip hop and that streak continues on their newest offering which arrived early to play as a soundtrack during these turbulent times of June 2020. The murder of unarmed black men at the hands of the police, divisive racist political tactics, and hollow religious care/thoughts/prayers are unfortunately themes that they know all too well having addressed each on past albums; the need to address them again looms even larger on RTJ4.
Artistically Killer Mike and El-P’s partnership has been fruitful for both as the group successfully mixes new and old school styles with exciting results. Opener “Yankee and the Brave” acts as a modern-day banging theme song announcing the group hasn’t given an inch before the DJ Premier and Greg Nice augmented old school piano-laced beat thumps with throwback swagger on “Oh La La”.
Woofers get distorted for the rattling low end of “Out of Sight” as 2 Chainz joins the conversation while the digital tweaking and freak-out scratches through warped motherboards float boast rhymes for “Holy Calamafuck” before a mid-song shift into horror movie creepiness.
Things are scary all over and RTJ has always written directly about police brutality, distorted politics, and the sad state of American affairs as their lyrical eyes are continually cast, capturing that palpable sense of rage and need for systemic change. Doing this consistently over inventive sounds without becoming preachy is a nifty trick as the outfit’s talents are visible on every song, none more so than “Walking in the Snow” with guest Gangsta Boo.
The feedback clashing rock sounds leak into a deep marching groove for the bopping track which calls out pseudo-Christians, murder by police, and fake rage that never brings real change. Phrases like: “Kids in prisons ain’t a sin? Shit, if even one scrap a what Jesus taught connected, you’d feel different/ What a disingenuous way to piss away existence/ I don’t get it I’d say you lost your goddamn minds if y’all possessed one to begin with” and “All of us serve the same masters/ all of us nothin’ but slaves/ Never forget in the story of Jesus/ the hero was killed by the state” are accelerants, blazing the truthful flame.
“Goonies vs E.T.” is a mish-mash of tension without release, Blade Runner sci-fi smooth colors “Never Look Back” with futuristic laser blasts while “The Ground Below” samples the Gang of Four in bombastic fashion. The direct connection to slavery and capitalism, “Ju$t” features both Zack de la Roche and Pharrell Williams sifting through centuries of inequality and current-day fads. The best guest spot however comes from Mavis Staples making clear that the fight for equality has been happening for generations. Staples sings the chorus for “Pulling The Pin” around Killer Mike’s machine-gun flow, El-P’s haunting production and Josh Homme adding his desert rock dust.
Ominous dramatic closer “A Few Words for the Firing Squad (Radiation)” climbs and climbs on years of struggle, deep drums, horns, and a growing orchestra, yet it never fully explodes, signaling the battle never ends.
RTJ4 is crafted to be played as a complete work of art as tracks drip into each other, there is even a hidden theme song linking the beginning and end for repeated listens. The righteous fight from song to song flows seamlessly as the duo aim to crack the current hate-filled algorithm and get through to the listener, preaching their beliefs in exhilarating fashion while producing the best protest music in recent memory.
