Run the Jewels - Spotify Sessions (2015)
Wouldn't you know it: I get REALLY fuckin' mad when something's in my eyes. The other night, I got a small wood chip stuck on my eye (read: ON, thankfully not in) and it hurt, and I kept complaining to my girlfriend about what China's doing to Tibet, and kept on saying shit like "If I have to get surgery or go blind because of this.. Fuck." and she told me to try to go to sleep because "It might flush itself out over night. I used to put small pieces of paper on my eyes when I was younger because I was a fuckin' weird kid." and naturally I pretended to ignore her to deal yet another one of my famous one-hit-knock-out to her self esteem, and also pretended to have come up with the solution of "Hey, I should sleep" on my own. I slept, regardless, and when I woke up: It was gone! Goodness gracious!! Thank the Lord that I came up with that idea completely on my own!! Anyhow, after I woke up and was refreshed from, I don't know, not having a fucking woodchip stuck near my iris, I got on RateYourMusic and discovered that RTJ did a live album in the form of a Spotify Sessions thingamajig. Wouldn't that be funny if it was an iTunes exclusive? No? Fuck you.
On this live album, El-P and Killer Mike rip through songs from their previous two studio albums as a duo and even "Tougher Colder Killer" from El-P's album "Cancer 4 Cure" which features Killer Mike, so that's a cool lil "I betcha didn't think we were gonna do it!!" and also really good for turning over to your friend in the audience with a smug look of "-I- know this song, do you?" because you're a fucking jackass. I'll be honest: This sounded like a hype as fuck concert! They're accompanied by DJ Trackstar whose turntable scratches don't really add anything to the songs, but it's all about participation. El-P and Killer Mike also seem to pretty much scream their verses the entire time, and fall victim to the whole "I ran out of breath just doing one line, so the other guy is gonna finish the line for me/yell it with me" CONSTANTLY. I mean fucking CONSTANTLY. I don't know if they're always like that, but it's a bit disappointing, but hey: Nothing's more disappointing than when some jackass at this specific concert jumped on stage and tried to assault El-P during "Banana Clipper", leading to an awkward "Sorry about that fuccboi" transmission at the beginning of one of the songs (since they cut "Banana Clipper" from the album entirely due to it) where it doesn't make sense if you're not in the know, but motherfuck that guy. I don't care if you just want to hug him or he killed your father: You better not even fucking come close to Nathan Gale-ing the guy who produced "The Cold Vein" you slimy bitchass motherfucker.
Sounds like it was a great and/or fun time, and there are times where you can REALLY tell these motherfuckers are going hard ("Oh My Darling Don't Cry" when the beat switches up) but if you've got the studio albums, ain't much reason to listen to this other than to imagine you're at one of their gigs, screaming along, moshing, and trying to get on stage to hug El-P like the complete moron you are, or rather, that guy was. Seriously, what the fuck?!
7/10
