Following the success of Killer Mike’s last solo album, 2012’s R.A.P. Music, both the Atlanta rapper and Brooklyn beatsmith/R.A.P. Music collaborator El-P treated Hip Hop fans to a bit of a surprise as they announced their plans to form the rap group now known as Run The Jewels.
This week, the pair released their self-titled debut and also offered a little insight into their group name to Interview Magazine as they shared the inspiration behind the Run The Jewels moniker.
According to Killer Mike, who credited El-P for coming up with the name, Run The Jewels was inspired by a LL Cool J line on “Cheesy Rat Blues.” On the song LL Cool J raps, “Throw your hands in the air / And wave ‘em like you just don’t care / Keep ‘em there / Run the jewels, run the jewels, run the jewels.”
“El came up with the name,” the Atlanta emcee revealed. “When he first said it—not that I didn’t get it; it’s actually an old LL Cool J line, which is dope as fuck—but I wasn’t sure. When I sat down and got out of my own way and allowed myself to marinate on that shit—and I knew what it meant on the streets of New York, on the streets period—I thought that was just the most hardcore shit that could be said, that could be heard and it really exemplified the spirit that I brought into making this record. ‘We’re not second to any rapper or producer. We rival all of your idols and we’re going to spend the next 30-some-odd minutes proving that.’”
El-P also shared his thoughts on the group and album name as he spoke on the nostalgia the music featured on Run The Jewels brings about.
“It was also a nod to the record. That was the era that made me and Mike fall in love with rap music,” said El-P. “For us, this project is about that. This whole project is really about our love for rap music.”
Run The Jewels was released on June 26 via Fool’s Gold Records and is currently available for free download.
RELATED: Killer Mike & El-P “Run The Jewels” Release Date, Tracklist & Album Download
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Put quotation marks in your headline, stupid.
The writer did you fuckin fuck!!
Waiting for some 12 year old to say “This isn’t hip-hop” and ask who LL Cool J was and why people used to listen to that rock label Def Jam…
so bcuz i dont kno who l cold j is that mens I dont like hip hop? go listin to disco bcuz u like old music. peeple like u dont kno what its like now. lj cant make music that i can realate to in the trap bluh!
bwahahahahah “go listin to disco bcuz u like old music” or “lj cant make music that i can realate to in the trap bluh!”… what a fuckin geek oh man that is cornball. some peoples kids
Love this comment. The Drake era niggas don’t get it!
Anon 2- you got OWNED-dumb ass.
Meant Anon 1-my fault Anon 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeIiF0DlTg
fuck this hippie bullshit, this aint even hiphop. and im not even trolling.
co-sign, theze rave niggaz iz wack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ktawH1-X84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZUGpOjswDk
Bringing it back.
Killer Mike has been on fire since he ended up not joining Outkast, El has been on fire since Fantastic Damage.. Co Flow is great and a NYC classic and all, but it’s no Fantastic Damage.
This is an amazing record from two veterans. If you told me Co Flow meets Dungeon Family in 2000 I’d shit my pants. It’s a collaboration that works in every level.
Kind of annoying how many of el-ps fans have blind hatred for mainstream and gangster rap, but whatever.
I listen to Gunplay and old Master P more than anything and Fantastic Damage is top 10 all time. What I would give to have Killer Mike replacing Aesop Rock and all those other herbs on there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPBKtyE0X9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZwsdW6TAl8
Dear El-P & Killer Mike: Thank You sincerely for this amazing record. Track Ddfh is so fricking nasty ridiculous, I’m speechless. Thank You!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6DQavhJUrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmFI4S-sQw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SCtyEOJy0A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcOR2UyzPzM