Even guest star Big Boi, who doesn't seem to have got the memo regarding the whole anti-materialism angle, tempers his bragging about the number of commas in his bank balance on Banana Clipper with a bit of useful qualifying advice for aspiring MCs: 'Retain ownership on everything.' The comparisons to Watch the Throne are not something Run the Jewels exactly goes out of its way to discourage. Music, was one of 2012's most acclaimed hip-hop albums – some compared its fusion of ferocious, pounding sonics and politically charged lyrics to Ice Cube's Amerikkka's Most Wanted – and their Run the Jewels mixtape repeated the feat last year.Īlmost without fail, on its release in June, reviews pitched Run the Jewels as a more worthwhile and rewarding alternative to Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch the Throne, with the latter's succession of big-name producers and expensive studios replaced by one dedicated, groundbreaking auteur, and its endless references to its creators' wealth traded for an anti-materialism more in keeping with the current economic climate: 'Whoever, whatever the Lord is, couldn't give a fuck if you ever made fortunes,' offers El-P at one juncture. The twain seldom meet, but their first collaboration, Killer Mike's El-P-produced R.A.P. He was once signed to a major label, and made his debut on Outkast's multiple-platinum Stankonia.

Killer Mike comes from a more conventional hip-hop background. Producer and rapper El-P is virtually the living embodiment of alternative hip-hop, a founder of both the revered 'independent as fuck' trio Company Flow and the Definitive Jux label. Then again, the union between Jaime 'El-P' Meline and Mike 'Killer Mike' Render seems a pretty unlikely state of affairs, too: 'eyebrow-raising' was the term the former used to describe their partnership as Run the Jewels. A record label choosing to release an underground hip-hop mixtape that has been available as a free download for the last six months – and indeed is still available as a free download now – seems an unlikely state of affairs: a mass of convincing evidence suggests most people won't buy something they can get for nothing at the click of a button, even if you do add an extra disc of unreleased remixes.

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