So a few weeks ago, just before Christmas, Run the Jewels 3 was released on iTunes and the Run the Jewels website for free. For those of you out of the loop, Run the Jewels is a hip hop duo made up of Atlanta based rapper Killer Mike and New York based rapper El-p. The duo has put out two previous collaborations together, Run the Jewels 1 and Run the Jewels 2 respectively, as well as numerous solo projects. RTJ has become more and more famous in recent years as both previous albums had good amounts of success.
Run the Jewels 1 was pretty much good at everything a rap album should be good at: it had good beats, great lyrics, and solid features. Run the Jewels 2 had all of that plus increased chemistry from the duo, which mad the album flow much better as a whole. Run the Jewels 3 deserves an award, scratch that a lot of awards. RTJ 3 is phenomenal, like "if you only listen to one hip hop album ever make is this one" phenomenal. The album has the same amazing lyricism from the duo that was on the first two albums, and El-p steps up in a big way.
Of the pair, Killer Mike is generally cited to be the better rapper, and his solo work is often cited as great. While not a bad rapper in anyway El-p's strength in the previous albums came from production more so than actual rapping. On RTJ 3 however, El-p really comes through on the rap side of things. He and Mike trade lines exceptionally well, showing even more cohesion than RTJ 2. The entire album is 14 tracks long with seven of them having features, each song with a feature only has one extra artist in the feature, which keeps the songs from feeling too crowded. The beats really feel like true hip hop beats. They're fast, aggressive, and infectious. You want to do something listening to the album dance to it, workout to it, or fight someone to it, it doesn't really matter as long as you are active while hearing it. A special note on the albums is the transitions between songs. You can and should listen to the songs in the order they are on the album. not to say they don't work as stand alone songs, but every song flows into the next one perfectly. The intro and outros mesh together and carry right into the song so smoothly. In short RTJ 3 deserves all the awards it will win and definitely deserves your listen.
