Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels (2013)

If you watch Adult Swim, you probably knew all of these songs before ever even learning who Run the Jewels were.

Run the Jewels is your brother who still reads comic books' favorite rap-duo, but I can't blame him, they're very interesting on paper: The New York rapper/producer El-P who's known for his intense rhyme schemes and industrial-esque production teaming up with Killer Mike, a southern rapper best known for fuckin' up shit with Outkast. It's not often that you see a weird culture difference happen like that in hip-hop, and even rarer that it's actually good! They're both pretty night-and-day compared to each other style-wise but compliment each other, even if their natural chemistry ain't that great on this album, but hey, RTJ doesn't seem to take themselves too seriously for the most part, which is pretty good because the intro track "Run the Jewels" instrumentally sounds like it was made for some cheesy heist movie, and it also has the weird quirk of being named after the group AND the album, so it'll just be "Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels" in your media player. R-R-RUN THEM JEWELS FAST NAWMEAN? FUCKIN' DO IT!

The intro leads into the FIRE "Banana Clipper (feat. Big Boi)" where the beat is fuckin' crazy (I have no words to describe it other than "crazy" and "fire") with Killer Mike immediately having a great verse to open the song, and it feels like he and El-P are genuinely neck-and-neck to try to get the spot of being the best and most entertaining rapper on the track until Big Boi of Outkast appears at the last minute to beat the shit out of them both. The rest of the album feels like El-P and Killer Mike not necessarily trying to outdo each other, but I end up finding El-P's verses much more entertaining for the most part, aside from the absolutely batshit insane verse that Killer Mike drops in "No Come Down" which might as well be the most psychedelic verse I've ever fucking heard. I can't even begin to describe that one, all I can really understand is him taking drugs with a girl, fucking, then going back in time, getting reincarnated as sister and brother, and some other shit. I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA! I've never even touched a drug before! Because WEED ISN'T A DR- JUST KIDDIN', BLAZE THAT SHIT.

My friend and my girlfriend (who is also my friend) have tried to tell me that "Get It" is a good song but I just can't hear that, because the hook annoys the shit out of me and I don't dig the beat. You know that Bearenstein Bears thing that's been going around? Maybe they just remember it as being a good song. I sure do fucking hope so because I don't understand. All of the other songs are good except for this and "Twin Hype Back (feat. Prince Paul as Chest Rockwell)" which reminds me of a novelty track more than anything else, and if you want a much better track about sex, it's on the next album. The album ends on a more serious note with "A Christmas Fucking Miracle" and it's pretty much the only semi-serious song on the entire album, even if the music video is fuckin' hilarious. The entire album is pretty much good but the album still sounds more like a collaborative album than an actual duo with solid chemistry. Ah well, that's what the next album is for, am I right? Well, yeah, I am.

7/10
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