![]() “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.Ī timely anger with America’s justice system is found throughout the album, weaponizing the work’s already-impassioned tone. 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. “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. It’s the more outgoing and daring younger brother of “Run the Jewels” but immensely thrilling and catchy in its own right. 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 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. RTJ’s second album takes the frustrated, heavy-hitting sounds of its predecessor and intensifies them, carrying them through 11 unrelenting songs. Every single track launches a new attack of high-energy beats and RTJ’s characteristically angry lyrics. “Run the Jewels 2” holds nothing back, combining a fiery tone with strikingly political themes. The album lives up to its hype: its frantic beats and powerful production are immersive and addicting. Twitter users joked that the high-powered album was causing the spontaneous combustion of their phones and computers. ![]() The album’s premature leak immediately began an internet frenzy. ![]() “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 video arrives in the midst of a flurry of festival appearances across the world, including Sasquatch, Primavera, Firefly, Roskilde.Killer Mike and El-P, the emcees of rap duo Run the Jewels, are back at it again and more energized than ever. Salutes to AG Rojas for his unique take on the subject matter and to Shea and Keith for giving us their all and bringing it to life.” However, there is an opportunity to dialogue and change the way communities are policed in this country. There is no neat solution at the end because there is no neat solution in the real world. Our goal was to highlight the futility of the violence, not celebrate it.”įor El-P of Run the Jewels “this is a vision of a seemingly never ending struggle whose participants are pitted against each other by forces originating outside of themselves.”Īdds partner Killer Mike “this video represents the futile and exhausting existence of a purgatory-like law enforcement system. They’ve already fought their way past their judgments and learned hatred toward one another. The film begins and it feels like they have been fighting for days, they’re exhausted, not a single punch is thrown, their violence is communicated through clumsy, raw emotion. They’re people – complex, real people and, as such, the power had to shift between them at certain points throughout the story. For me, it was important to write a story that didn’t paint a simplistic portrait of the characters of the Cop and Kid. It’s provocative, and we all knew this, so we were tasked with making something that expressed the intensity of senseless violence without eclipsing our humanity. We had to exploit the lyrics and aggression and emotion of the track, and translate that into a film that would ignite a valuable and productive conversation about racially motivated violence in this country. I felt a sense of responsibility to do just that. “When Run The Jewels sent me this, I knew we had the opportunity to create a film that means something. ![]() The thought provoking video stars Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire Wolf of Wall Street) and Keith Stanfield (Selma Straight Outta Compton) as a white cop and a black youth locked in a violent struggle that appears to have no beginning and no end, nor a clear instigation or purpose. Run The Jewels have unveiled an AG Rojas directed video for their track “Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)” featuring Zack De La Rocha, the latest single from their recent album Run The Jewels 2.
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