Since forming Run the Jewels, rap legends Killer Mike and El-P have successfully connected
with countless fans, weaving political and societal themes into their music with apparent
ease. However, there's still plenty of things you likely don't know about the duo. Here's
the untold truth of Run the Jewels.
While Run the Jewels definitely sounds like a good name for a rap group, what the heck
does it mean? According to El-P, the phrase is quite common in New York. As he told NPR:
"If you were hearing the word run the jewels [...] you were in trouble."
That's because the phrase"run the jewels" is New York slang for a stickup.
Furthermore, the rapper noted that the idea for their name came from a dark place, when
he had, quote, "personally lost everything." Explaining that he was listening to LL Cool
J's 1990 track "Cheesy Rat Blues" one day, he revealed that the lyrics resonated with
him, as the artist was also rapping about, quote, "losing everything" and "being a rap
star." If all of that wasn't pretty close to home already, LL finishes the song with
the lyrics:
"Throw your hands in the air, wave them like you just don't care. But keep them there — run
the jewels."
El-P notes that the song made him feel, quote, "bigger" and was "powerful" — something
that their fans felt, too. Killer Mike added:
"It became a life-affirming thing for them."
Suddenly, "run the jewels" took on a different meaning for an entirely new generation.
Killer Mike and El-P were already industry veterans by the time they linked up to form
Run the Jewels. As it turns out, it was thanks to Jason DeMarco, the vice president and creative
director for Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim," that brought the two together.
As Killer Mike revealed to Thrasher Magazine, DeMarco linked the two men up in a studio,
and after working on material for three hours, Killer Mike demanded they do a whole album.
Eventually, after it was released, the pair went on tour. Killer Mike elaborated:
"El-P and Killer Mike opened for Run The Jewels. Then we'd come back out on stage as Run The
Jewels, and for whatever reason, people went f------ nuts."
To this day, Run the Jewels know where they came from. EL-P declared to Billboard:
"If Jason calls, we say yes."
The rappers have continued to work with "Adult Swim" since their inception, not only releasing
a "Rick and Morty" crossover music video in 2018, but also being a part of the network's
"Singles Series," and even helping host a televised concert created to promote voter
registration in 2020.
Besides his love for music, Killer Mike's other passion is owning barber shops. He told
Vice's Noisey:
"Our whole philosophy is men deserve to be shaved, washed, and groomed."
He added that for working-class men, affording to go to places such as social clubs isn't
exactly an option. Instead, he notes, barber shops work as places to go to, quote, "express
our thoughts, concerns, laugh, joke about sports, music."
As of 2021, Killer Mike owns two barber shops in Atlanta, Georgia, and both are called The
SWAG Shop — an acronym for "shave, wash, and groom". An Atlanta native himself, the
rapper sees his project as a way to give back to his community. He explained to Barber Schools:
"I want to see young African American men employed, without having to continue to beg
people for employment."
He notes that after earning disposable income, he wants to see his employees go on to, quote,
"invest in other things."
And while he's certainly giving back to the community, Killer Mike recognizes the project
as something to fall back on for himself, too. He told Noisey:
"I never wanted to only depend on rap to the point [where] if it disappointed me, I just
wanted my whole world to wash away."
In October 2015, Pitchfork released a curious review on a Run the Jewels album called "Meow
the Jewels." In it, they quote philosopher Albert Schweitzer:
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
Apparently, Run the Jewels figured out a way to blend both.
"Meow the Jewels" is a cat-sampled remix album of their sophomore effort, "Run the Jewels
2." As El-P explained to Mass Appeal, the idea started off as, quote, "a joke" while
he was organizing merchandise orders for the group's website. He said:
"I thought it would be funny if we came up with a bunch of fake ones."
So, he included a "Meow the Jewels" album package priced at $40,000. Unexpectedly enough,
the idea got picked up by a fan on Kickstarter and was suddenly backed by A-list producers
and artists willing to contribute, too, including Portishead's Geoff Barrow and Massive Attack's
3D.
Turning the debacle into a charity event, the rappers raised $65,783 and got to work
creating the album. They also updated their Kickstarter page with a breakdown of where
the money would be going, donating the original $40,000 to the families of Eric Garner and
Michael Brown, Jr. — young Black men who were killed unjustly by police officers. After
the manufacturing fees and other various costs, the rest of the money went to merch, including
— you guessed it — "Meow the Jewels" catnip.
Part of Run the Jewels' success can be attributed to the fact that they truly don't follow current
rap trends and have instead carved out their own sound. The Guardian calls them, quote,
"political" and "angry," with roots "in the golden age hip-hop of Public Enemy and EPMD."
It's that iconic Run the Jewels sound that connected with listeners in 2020 when the
artists released "RTJ4" mere days after the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests
against police brutality.
Killer Mike explained to Complex after the album's release:
"When everyone is ready to see and accept it [...] the action of revolt and progress
starts,"
He explained further that the two men haven't exactly adapted their lyrics to current events
— instead it's merely something they've, quote, "been seeing all along." That being
said, it's not like either Killer Mike or El-P are particularly ecstatic about the accuracy
of their rhymes in the world today. If anything, its relevance is disheartening. El-P mused
to The Guardian:
"The best thing that could ever happen to the world is if Run the Jewels was just blathering
nonsense."
Although their music is politically charged and aggressive, EL-P told Vulture in 2020
that their shows and albums are filled with positive energy, and that the music isn't
solely serious. He elaborated:
"We understand what messages people are connecting to and the context in which it's connecting."
And while current events may have paved the way for the duo's lyrical content, Killer
Mike wants to remind his fans that Run the Jewels are not, quote, "a political rap group."
As he declared to NPR:
"We don't care what party you belong to. We don't care who you supported. We don't care
what you're doing tomorrow politically."
However, what Run the Jewels do care about is social freedom — a right they believe
everyone should have.
At the end of the day, both Killer Mike and El-P are lovers of rap music — two talented
industry veterans who came together to form Run the Jewels. El-P told Complex:
"We're friends. We love making rap music. It's not all serious."
Saying that Run the Jewels have been busy since the release of their 2013 debut album
would be a severe understatement. Killer Mike revealed to Spin when asked why the group
waited so long to release "RTJ4":
"We spent 123 days doing shows. I worked myself into the hospital twice from dehydration and
exhaustion."
After the promotional run for their third album, 2016's "Run the Jewels 3," Killer Mike
and El-P decided to briefly go their separate ways, later admitting to The Guardian that
it wasn't just physical exhaustion that they felt — their friendship was drained, too.
As the outlet reveals, Killer Mike turned to activism, publicly supporting Bernie Sanders'
presidential candidacy and even launching his own Netflix docu-series, "Trigger Warning
with Killer Mike," which looks at American socio-political issues that affect the country
and the Black community.
"The greatest hindrance that black people have is white Jesus."
He told Billboard:
"You entertain and also give people some food for thought. Or at least allowing others to
start to understand the world from other perspectives."
El-P, on the other hand, sat down to write the soundtrack for "Capone," the 2020 Tom
Hardy flick that chronicles the infamous Al Capone's fall into dementia. As he stated
in a press release, the rapper spent his childhood listening to film scores.
"They've always been a huge influence on me [...] I loved helping create and getting lost
in this twisted little trip into Al's mind."
Although it may not be evident at first glance, hip-hop and comic books go hand in hand, as
many major rap artists are comic book fans.
One prime example is Darryl McDaniels, aka DMC — a founding member of Run-DMC, who
explains that hip-hop was born in the early '70s, around the same time that comic books
were reigning supreme. He mused:
"It was part of our lifestyle."
As it turns out, Run the Jewels' Killer Mike and El-P — who were both born in 1975 — are
also comic book buffs. El-P explained to Rolling Stone:
"Comic books are a part of the creative world of a kid in an urban environment."
On a similar note, Killer Mike revealed that his childhood was spent reading comic books
with his stepdad.
So the two comic book aficionados were certainly overjoyed when, in 2015, Marvel decided to
honor Run the Jewels with two comic book covers, Issue #45 of "Deadpool" and Issue #2 of "Howard
the Duck". Both covers pay homage to the hip-hop legends by featuring characters with their
fist-and-gun logo. As Killer Mike told Rolling Stone of the moment he found out:
"I was dancing around the room in my Polo underwear."
While Run the Jewels consists of two members, El-P and Killer Mike, fans may have noticed
another mystery man on stage with them. Cue DJ Trackstar — the duo's unofficial third
group member.
Unlike El-P and Killer Mike, who have decades of experience in the music industry, Trackstar
was merely a Washington University graduate who, between 2003 and 2009, worked as a local
Missouri DJ. As he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Killer Mike was once his, quote, "favorite
rapper," having first heard him in 2006. It's that adoration for his idol that led him to
dial Killer Mike's phone number one day after seeing it listed in an interview with the
rapper. He explained:
"I wanted to know what my favorite rapper's voicemail sounded like."
Surprisingly, Killer Mike picked up, causing Moskoff to open up about being a superfan.
After impressing him with a "best of Killer Mike" mixtape, the rapper asked him to take
the stage as his DJ at one of his concerts. The rest was history. Trackstar said:
"My relationship with Mike is just charmed. This whole thing is charmed, crazy and pure."
Run the Jewels may be one of the otp hip hop groups in the world, buttheir dynamic is much
more similar to that of rock bands. Killer Mike explained to GQ in 2020:
"We're a rap group almost masquerading in the rock world because we depend on the live
show and merchandise."
Aside from relying on their live shows, both El-P and Killer Mike are actually rock fans,
too. El-P told Revolver:
"I just like heavy music in general — from heavy rock and heavy metal and heavy rap and
heavy everything."
The pair has even collaborated with some pretty big rock names, too, having worked with Nine
Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno, The Mars Volta, and Blink-182's
Travis Barker. As El-P proudly told Revolver:
"I've been fortunate to work with a lot of people I really admire in other worlds than
just rap."
It looks like the feeling is mutual, too. As of 2021, Run the Jewels have a rescheduled
post-pandemic tour planned with Rage Against the Machine in 2022.
It's no secret that Killer Mike is a prominent social justice advocate, even collaborating
with Adult Swim to put on a live show encouraging voter registration for 2020's presidential
election. He explained to The New York Times:
"[Growing up] they were my passions, rapping and organizing."
That passion for organizing led Killer Mike to Bernie Sanders, for whom he became a vocal
advocate in 2016, even going as far as to publish six video interviews with the senator
on YouTube. In one interview, the rapper praises Sanders' willingness to fight for everyone
— no matter the their political affiliation or background — and actually believe in
the collective "we" of America:
"You seem to be the only politician that wants a smarter constituency."
According to The New Yorker, Sanders and Killer Mike have stayed in touch throughout the years,
with the latter having Sanders in his phone's contact list as "The OG." As the rapper told
The New York Times,
"[Bernie is a] good man in a very crooked game."
El-P and Killer Mike aren't exactly spring chickens in the rap game. Both men have been
in the music business professionally since the 1990s — Killer Mike made his mainstream
debut in 1999 recording verses for OutKast's "Stankonia," while El-P was a member of Company
Flow, a trio from the mid-'90s.
Just because both rappers are middle-aged doesn't mean they're planning on retiring
anytime soon, though. El-P told GQ in 2020:
"We're not f------ done yet!"
He went on to note that the pair agreed that they'd, quote, "do four records at a bare
minimum." Killer Mike, on the other hand, offered up a bit more insight, sharing that
the music-making process with his friend has been incomparable in his adult years:
"Anything that makes me feel 15 and comes off this raw and rugged and hip-hop and in
your face? I'm not stopping this s--- 'til it's over."
So, what's the secret to such long-lasting success in the hip-hop industry? While El-P
confessed to The Ringer that he's not sure, he did reveal:
"I've always put my nose to the grindstone and made it about the music."
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