Image via Complex Original
You would hardly say that Run the Jewels' path to rap stardom is the prototypical plan for a hip-hop superstar. As psychotically youth-obsessed as the hip-hop industry can be, 30-something rap veterans like Killer Mike and El-P do not usually have their pop cultural breakthrough nearly two decades into their careers.
Nor do you typically expect two artists who have so aggressively rejected the accepted tropes of popular rap music as Run the Jewels have to find a true professional renaissance releasing free music on the Internet. None of this has stopped the duo’s second album, Run the Jewels 2, from becoming something approaching a genuine phenomenon. Instantly receiving near unanimous critical praise upon its digital release, the album was reportedly legally downloaded a staggering 150,000 times during the first day according to Rolling Stone, an impressive stat for rap’s heavyweights let alone a largely independent rap group.
Meanwhile, the individual paths to stardom for El-P (Jaime Meline) and Killer Mike (Michael Render) have been wildly divergent. ATLien Killer Mike found success as a critically lauded OutKast associate in the early 2000s and won a Grammy before major label intransigence led Mike to pledge his allegiance to the grind of hip-hop independence. In contrast, assuredly New York El-P was a true late-'90s underground hip-hop deity whose brand of music had apocalyptic undertones and aggressively eschewed anything that seemed remotely commercial. A decade and a million war stories later, they became rap music’s most impressive new group.
From the Dungeon Family and Rawkus Records to the Purple Ribbon All-Stars to Definitive Jux, Killer Mike and El-P have produced some of the most celebrated underground (or otherwise) hip-hop ever. Whether you're a newcomer to Run the Jewels or a longtime fan of the pair behind it, here's a listener's guide for the pair’s most essential records over their combined 30-year careers.
B.J. Steiner is a writer living in New York. Follow him @DocZeus.
Company Flow, Funcrusher Plus
Year: 1997
Label: Rawkus Records
It’s the album that launched a thousand dorm room arguments. Premiering as a member of seminal underground hip-hop group Company Flow, El-P’s signature verbose lyrical paranoia and “independent as fuck” production made its first appearance on the group’s debut, Funcrusher Plus. Released on legendary indie hip-hop label Rawkus Records in July 1997, Company Flow’s album is considered one of the fundamental building blocks of the late-'90s underground hip-hop renaissance. Along with DJ/producer Mr. Len and fellow rapper Big Juss, El-P helped form a vision of darkly post-modern hip-hop whose bleak sound brought a stirring alternative to the growing commercial dominance of Bad Boy-ized mainstream hip-hop. Tracks like “8 Steps to Perfection,” “Krazy Kings,” and “The Fire in Which You Burn” are avant-garde classics for adventurous hip-hop fanatics.
Company Flow, Little Johnny From the Hospitul: Breaks and Instrumentals Vol.1
Year: 1999
Label: Rawkus Records
Despite the success of the Company Flow’s debut, in-fighting between the the group and Rawkus Records over money and perceived neglect of the trio’s talent led to the group’s internal disintegration and abandonment of the label. The only other full-length project released under the Company Flow banner was Little Johnny From the Hospitul: Breaks and Instrumentals Vol. 1, a largely instrumental album released in the group's dying days. The album's biggest standout is “Suzy Pulled a Pistol on Henry,” a reference to De La Soul's “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa.”
Cannibal Ox, The Cold Vein
Year: 2001
Label: Definitive Jux
Following the dissolution of Company Flow, El-P would go on to co-found pioneering independent hip-hop label Definitive Jux in 1999. Two years later, Def Jux would release the New York rap duo Cannibal Ox’s darkly futuristic debut, The Cold Vein, as the first full-length LP in the label's history. Produced entirely by El-P himself, the album would be critically acclaimed for its gothic orchestral production that sounded as if it were recorded within the deep recesses of outer space and dense, hyper-literate rhymes provided by Harlem and Brooklyn-bred rappers Vast Aire and Vordul Mega. Memorable tracks like “Iron Galaxy,” “Ridiculoid,” and the grim anti-love song “The F-Word” paint a mirthless picture of New York City just before the dawn of post-9/11 America.
OutKast f/ Killer Mike and Joi “The Whole World”
Year: 2001
Label: Arista
Rare is the artist who finds instant critical and commercial success and doesn't flame out soon after. As the young associate of the seminal rap group OutKast, Killer Mike would win a Grammy Award for his collaboration “The Whole World” with the legendary duo on one of the very first recorded singles of his career. Featuring brassy, sing-song production provided by Earthtone III, Big Boi and Andre 3000’s beat-making outfit with longtime Dungeon Family producer Mr. DJ, the single would eventually land at No. 19 on Billboard's Hot 100, instantly establishing Killer Mike as a promising young talent in hip-hop.
El-P, Fantastic Damage
Year: 2002
Label: Definitive Jux
Fantastic Damage is a product of mushrooming national psychosis spawning in post-9/11 New York. El-P’s solo debut pushed both his songwriting and production techniques to the acid-bleeding edge of hip-hop that still sounds light years more space-aged than virtually any modern hip-hop artist except perhaps himself. As an unabashedly political album in an era in which defiance of the state seemed to be on the verge of siding with the terrorists themselves, El-P rages on post-apocalyptic themes of totalitarianism and anti-corporatism that would become recurring themes of his long career.
Killer Mike, Monster
Year: 2003
Label: Columbia/Aquemini
After finding success as a guest artist on tracks from rap titans like OutKast and Jay Z, Killer Mike dropped his debut album, Monster, on Columbia in March 2003. Powered by MTV hit “A.D.I.D.A.S.,” Monster found quick commercial success as a solo album and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 on its way to a gold record. The album took sonic cues from Mike’s association with OutKast imprint Aquemini Records, fully employing the eclectic, vibrant sounds of the legendary Dungeon Family with André 3000 and Mr. DJ offering their production services while Big Boi, Big Rube, Slimm Calhoun, and Sleepy Brown came through to drop memorable guest appearances. Despite the album’s impressive pedigree, Monster failed to go platinum after topping out at around 500,000 sales, but was still an impressive debut for the budding Atlanta rapper.
El-P, weareallgoingtoburninhell 1-3
Year: 2003, 2008, 2010
Label: Definitive Jux/Self-Released/Gold Dust
Since their inception in 2003, El-P’s wearellgoingtoburninhell compilations have become some of music’s best showcases for instrumental hip-hop. The series peaked in 2008 with El-P’s second compilation, weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixx2, that was available as a tour-only mixtape. The second installment would continue expanding upon El-P’s brand of drugged-out-in-space instrumentals with “Drunk on the Edge of a Cliff,” a jaw-shattering mash-up of synth static and Caribbean-influenced steel drums, and “Mike Douglas,” a scathing burn on coke rap-fetishizing music critics, serving as the compilation series’ zenith.
El-P, High Water
Year: 2004
Label: Thirsty Ear
Created in conjunction with accomplished jazz pianist Matthew Shipp’s Blue Series Continuum collective, experimental jazz-electronica album High Water showcases El-P’s rapidly growing musicianship during the mid-2000s. While the album almost completely discards any conventional notion of hip-hop, High Water provides the listener with a forwarding-thinking blend of improvisational jazz and electronically tinged music. On the album, El-P displays an impressive ear for densely layered composition that would serve to make High Water an under-appreciated record in his discography.
Killer Mike, Ghetto Extraordinary
Year: 2005/2008
Label: Self-released
After the dissolution of Aquemini Records and the unofficial hiatus of his benefactors OutKast, Killer Mike would find himself in major label purgatory in the subsequent years since the release of 2003’s Monster. While Mike would be lured to Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon imprint on Virgin Records, Killer Mike’s unofficial sophomore album, Ghetto Extraordinary, would languish on the shelf and fail to see an official release date. While technically recorded in 2005, Killer Mike would ultimately self-release the album as a free mixtape in 2008. Ghetto Extraordinary would find Mike developing a harder, more aggressive sound more in touch with the era’s trends in Southern trap and crunk music. While many of the album’s best songs would ultimately find homes on a few of Killer Mike’s official releases, Ghetto Extraordinary would develop a legacy as one of the great unreleased albums in hip-hop history.
Purple Ribbon All-Stars, Big Boi Presents…Got Purp? Vol. II
Year: 2005
Label: Purple Ribbon/Virgin
While Killer Mike’s brief association with Purple Ribbon would ultimately sour in the wake of record label disagreements, Mike would play an important role in the imprint’s acclaimed compilation, Got Purp? Vol. II. In addition to appearances by label founder Big Boi and rap stars like Bubba Sparxxx and Sleepy Brown, Killer Mike would headline several tracks on the album including the LP’s party-starting A-Town anthem, “Kryptonite (I’m On It).”
Killer Mike, I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind
Year: 2006
Label: Grind Time Official
I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind finds Killa Kill from the ’Ville reinventing himself as a hungry indie rapper after his career as a major label rap star had finally stalled out. As the first album in a trilogy of LPs, Pledge is a sprawling double-disc epic that finds Killer Mike focusing on socially conscious and political themes in his music. The album’s centerpiece remains the seething “That’s Life” that takes square aim at rich black celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby for criticizing the “failings” of the black underclass while ignoring a larger context of soul-crushing poverty that spawns dysfunction.
El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Year: 2007
Label: Definitive Jux
Recorded in a drug-induced haze during a three-month bender in Montreal, 2007’s operatic I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is El-P’s finest hour. While pushing his psychedelic production to its darkest limits, the album would find El-P exploring themes of depression, drug use, and suicide over some of the most personal tracks he has ever recorded. Featuring an array of impressive guest artists including Trent Reznor, Cat Power, and long-time Def Jam co-workers Aesop Rock and Cage, the album perhaps remains El-Producto’s most ambitious and personal work to date.
Killer Mike, I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II
Year: 2008
Label: Grind Time Official/SMC
The second installment of the I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind series finds Killer Mike playing the part of a street preacher to the masses. Whether it's as a fire-breathing reverend on the tempest “God in the Building,” a savvy veteran dope dealer on “Grandma’s House,” or a snarling politically focused MC on “Pressure,” Killer Mike pulverizes as each iteration.
Killer Mike, Underground Atlanta
Year: 2009
Label: Grind Time Official/SMC
As an upstart independent rap label owner for his budding Grind Time Official imprint, Killer Mike released Underground Atlanta, a double-disc epic that would highlight the ever-vibrant Atlanta rap scene. Jam-packed with dozens of features from everybody from ascendant underground acts like Big Kuntry King and Pill to rap legends like Bun B and T.I., Underground Atlanta is one of Killer Mike’s most underrated curiosities.
Killer Mike, Pledge
Year: 2011
Label: Grind Time/SMC/Tree Leaf/Grand Hustle
The third and final installment of Killer Mike’s Pledge series finds Mike Bigga at his most politically forceful to date. On tracks like “American Dream,” and “That’s Life 2,” Killer Mike puts the soul of American society on trial for failing to provide for all its citizens. However, Pledge’s unquestionable signature track is the regal “Ric Flair” that channels the ritual professional wrestling deity in all of his “stylin’-n-profilin’” glory. With tracks like the T.I.-assisted club banger “Ready, Set, Go” providing a nice balance to the album’s political scales, Pledge might be Killer Mike’s most complete record.
Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music
Year: 2012
Label: Williams Street
After both men enjoyed two sprawling, separate careers, Killer Mike and El-P would finally have their paths cross on 2012’s R.A.P. Music, Killer Mike’s sixth studio album, entirely produced by El-Producto himself. As a synthesis of Mike’s Southern street preacher roots and El’s millennial dread, R.A.P. Music was hailed as a near instant classic upon its release in spring 2012. El and Mike’s chemistry was immediately self-evident as the album was littered with a host of memorable tracks. Chaotic opener “Big Beast” instantly brings the noise while polemical classic “Reagan” finds Mike squaring off against the horrifying legacy of Ronald Reagan’s destructive policies on African-American life. The album’s sly masterpieces might be the late album end-to-end burners “Anywhere But Here” and “Willie Burke Sherwood” in which Mike juxtaposes themes of urban neglect with a powerfully personal tale of a family facing difficult odds.
El-P, Cancer 4 Cure
Year: 2012
Label: Fat Possum Records
In the wake of El-P’s seminal indie rap label Def Jux going bust, El-P took five long years to drop a proper follow-up to 2007’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. The long hiatus did not slow El-P’s increasingly ambitious musicianship in the slightest as Cancer 4 Cure proved to be one of 2012’s most accomplished rap records. Featuring the nuclear age party single “The Full Retard,” the diverse album borrowed from electro, dubstep, and boom-bap hip-hop. The album’s haunting closer, “$4 Vic/Nothing but You+Me (FTL)” is vintage El-P finding the underground rap demi-god dropping an ode to millennial discontent. It’s the perfect album to burn a stockbroker to.
Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels
Year: 2013
Label: Fool's Gold Records
Not wanting to squander the biochemical magic produced on the previous year’s R.A.P. Music, Jaime and Mike decided to start a band together for real. The result of their cross-pollination: Run the Jewels and their self-titled album. Over a blistering 33-minute set, El-P and Killer Mike trade bars of ferocious rapping that established the rap veterans as quite possibly the best new rap group in the industry. You are unlikely to find two better rappers so easily sharing the same space as you will on face-melting tracks like the Big Boi-assisted “Banana Clipper” or the sneeringly cynical “DDFH.”
Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2
Year: 2014
Label: Mass Appeal
One year after dropping their debut album as a group, Killer Mike and El-P released their latest effort, Run the Jewels 2, as a free download. RTJ2 expands on the artistic chemistry created on Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music and their first album with tracks like “Blockbuster Night Pt. 1,” “Close Your Eyes and Count to Fuck,” and “Oh My Darling Don't Cry” leading the way. In addition, the new album is notable for a series of impressive guest appearances from a diverse range of musicians including Rage Against the Machine's Zach De La Rocha, Travis Barker, and a scene-stealing guest verse from Memphis crunk empress Gangsta Boo on “Love Again (Akinyele Back.)” Ultimately, Run the Jewels 2 makes a strong case for Killer Mike and El-P's status as hip-hop's reigning and defending tag-team champions.