Hip Hop’s most dangerous/lovable odd couple has returned. After last year’s underground dominance in the form of Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music (produced entirely by El-P), El-P’s self-produced Cancer 4 Cure (featuring Killer Mike), and a dual tour, the real life best friends have returned with their first official project as a duo. El and Mike both rap over El’s powerful production (Sci-fi sound effects. Heavy thump. Boom bap drums. Sonic fuzz.) and their chemistry shows just how much closer they’ve become since meeting to work on Mike’s album only a couple years ago.

El-P founded Definitive Jux (a label/leader in the independent hip hop boom of the early 2000s) after some success with his group Company Flow. Killer Mike came to prominence as a part of Outkast’s camp from Atlanta around the same time. The two working together seemed unusual at first (a nerdy kid from Brooklyn and a giant southern boy from Georgia), but also makes sense in so many ways. Both hyper-intelligent thinkers and immensely talented artists, they have brought back a style of hip hop that is desperately needed right now, one that is smart, self-aware, socially conscious yet enthusiastic and often fun. Run The Jewels is available for free through Fool’s Gold.

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