TRACK REVIEW: Run the Jewels (ft. Mavis Staples & Josh Homme) - pulling the pin

TRACK REVIEW:

Run the Jewels (ft. Mavis Staples & Josh Homme)

pulling the pin

9.6/10

The track, pulling the pin, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb87c2yMe6Q

GENRE:

Hip-Hop

ORIGIN:

U.S.A.

The album, RT4, is available here:

https://runthejewels.com/

RELEASE DATE:

5th June, 2020 (Digital Release)

LABELS:

Jewel Runner LLC/BMG Rights Management (US) LLC

__________

I felt that I really just had…

to review Run the Jewels, as they have released one of the most important albums of the year with RTJ4. Run the Jewels consists El-P and Killer Mike, and I have been following the duo for years now. I think they are role models, and they are sending out music that is loud, inspiring, and vital! Killer Mike came out in the wake of the death of George Floyd, and he was full of passion and anger. He argued that there should be gun ownership for all black people and he, like us all, was disgusted by what we saw in the U.S. Since then, there have been peaceful protests and riots; we have seen more police brutality and there are demonstrations happening around the world. I think now we are seeing more togetherness than ever, even though there is a lot of division and injustice. People are taking to the streets to march and, if you look on social media, there is campaigning and a lot of love. It is a very strange time but, obviously, one where we need to see change and action. There are petitions to get the U.S. police defunded, or for there to be less funding their way – so that they cannot carry shields and rubber bullets (which they can use as weapons). I am going on a bit of a tangent, but the fact that they have rubber bullets means that they are using them excessively. Not that all U.S. police officers are violent: we are still seeing far too many go beyond the law and use excessive force against black people. Run the Jewels know this, and their new album seems like the perfect soundtrack for these times. Whilst the physical edition of RTJ4 is not out until later this year, you can get the digital version, and there is a pay-what-you-want option. All proceeds go to the Mass Defence Program. Here is some more information:

“The Mass Defense Committee (MDC) is a network of lawyers, legal workers and law students providing legal support for political activists, protesters and movements for social change.

MDC members in chapters across the country provide trainings, assistance in setting up temporary legal offices and legal support structures, and materials for supporting activists engaged in mass protests.

Mass Defense Support

The National Lawyers Guild can provide the following legal help to progressive organizations:

§ “Know your rights” trainings/workshops;

§ Meetings with, and advice to, organizers about protest actions, and legal consequences;

§ Legal Observers® at protests and other actions;

§ Help with setting up and running jail and bail support programs;

§ Legal representation in case of protest arrests.

If interested, please go to nlg.org/chapters and find the NLG chapter nearest you. If the chapter has a website listed, click on the link and look for “Request Legal Observers®” or “Mass Defense” and the local chapter will respond based on capacity. If no website is listed, please email the listed chapter person and CC massdef@nlg.org”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Timothy Saccenti

I will get to reviewing a song from RTJ4 but, first, there are a number of different subjects that I wanted to address. Of course, the death of George Floyd weighs heavy on us all; there is so much anger in the air, and people want to see changes to the law very quickly. More than anything, there is this collective desire that wants an end to racist violence and the sort of brutality that has been levied at black lives for centuries. Killer Mike, as I said, has been in the news because he does want to protect black lives and see those who impose brutality brought to justice. We have seen people looting cities and causing carnage. As this Rolling Stone article explains, Killer Mike urged protestors in Atlanta, Georgia not to desecrate their city:

“As protests in Atlanta escalated toward looting and clashes with police, Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike appeared at the mayor’s press conference to deliver an emotional speech pleading with protestors not to vandalize their city.

The rapper, the son of an Atlanta police officer, said that while he has “a lot of love and respect for police officers,” mentioning that police department’s “original eight” African-American officers in the 1940s. “Here we are 80 years later, and I watched a white officer assassinate a black man, and I know that tore your heart out” Killer Mike said.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

“I’m mad as hell. I woke up wanting to see the world burn yesterday, because I’m tired of seeing black men die. He casually put his knee on a human being’s neck for nine minutes as he died like a zebra in the clutch of a lion’s jaw.”

He continued, “So that’s why children are burning it to the ground. They don’t know what else to do. And it is the responsibility of us to make this better right now. We don’t want to see one officer charged, we want to see four officers prosecuted and sentenced. We don’t want to see targets burning, we want to see the system that sets up for systemic racism burnt to the ground”.

I am going to leave things on Killer Mike for a bit, as many people have come out on social media and praised his reaction to the rioting and looting. He is, in a way, the sort of leader America wants and deserves! I think a lot of what has happened in the past few weeks has been informing the music of Run the Jewels for a long time now – and there has not been change and sufficient improvement. Killer Mike has been reacting to continued racism and rioting and putting the truth out there. I am going to quote from a few articles, as I feel all of this is important to contextualise the music of Run the Jewels and what they are saying right now. This article from The Guardian documents Killer Mike and El-P’s response to what is happening:

“The media reporting on protests doesn’t help this feeling that the killing of black people doesn’t trouble the majority, he says. “It really does feel like nobody gives a shit, even when they do, because the media is … not going to tell you that there were white people on the ground and black people on the ground, different races and sexes.

“They’re going to preach separation, they’re going to preach fear, conservatism v liberalism – they’re going to keep stoking those fires. So, we have some action to do now. Giving a shit is the first phase: now let’s progress it.”

Meanwhile, El-P, real name Jaime Meline, is optimistic that this could be time of real change – and that the status quo may be tilting. “I want the oppressors, the enemy, to know that they haven’t created complete hopelessness yet,” he says. “I want motherfuckers to know that there are people from every cultural line that are ultimately not going to accept this.

“I don’t want them to think they are off the hook. I look at these riots and I see white people, black people, Asians, women and men – and I know this shit is coming to a head. It’s getting to the point where your whole system of racism does not apply any more to the spiritual and mental mindset of the new generation”.

For their music’s apparent currency, Mike says he isn’t sure about the “right band for the times” line. “When I rap, I’m not reacting to the time, I’m just rapping about the societal conditions. I’m not specifically talking about anyone because those names are interchangeable. Trump is interchangeable with Nixon is interchangeable with Reagan is interchangeable with so many other evil motherfuckers who have held that office.

“As bad as Trump is for our time, imagine what it was like when other presidents were in even worse times, when Eugene Debs [an American socialist] was running for president against Woodrow Wilson – they locked him up [on charges of sedition for his opposition to the first world war].

“If anything, it’s a source of mild discomfort to us that our music is seemingly relevant,” sighs El-P. “The best thing that could ever happen to the world is if Run the Jewels was just blathering nonsense, if we’re just two assholes who are completely out of touch with reality. We don’t want this shit to be on point. It’s because of that truth that we allow ourselves to be completely stupid and surreal on our records as well. We need that, too”.

I know I have brought in a lot of words from other people, but I think Run the Jewels’ voice and words are really important right now. I think RTJ4 sounds even more powerful and relevant when you listen to the songs – more urgent and necessary than any other album around.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ramona Rosales

I want to look back and talk more about Run the Jewels’ start and how things got going. As I said: I have been following their music for years, and I have loved everything they have put out. There is a real bond between Killer Mike and El-P, and you can hear that in every track they put out! Although one can imagine some romantic and filmic vision of the two seeing one another across a crowded room, as this Rolling Stone interview tells, the reality was a lot different:

“El-P and Killer Mike first met “in Nebraska,” Mike says. “In a cage match,” El-P notes. They are kidding: stoned and fucking around. The real story is that Mike was born Michael Render. His mother, who gave birth to him at 16, had an artistic streak that manifested, for a time, in a job as a florist. It was through this job that she found a sideline selling cocaine. “It was the same clientele,” Mike says. “Rich white ladies. They asked, ‘Could you get me some?’ She thought about it, and she could.”

Mike was in fourth grade when he told his teacher Ms. Ealey that he wanted to be a rapper, “like Run-DMC. She told me, ‘You should be a pilot,'” he recalls. “She was the first teacher to tell me that I was smart.” (He later enrolled in a pilot’s class, and enjoys flying small planes.) Mike was raised in large part by his grandmother, a nurse, and his grandfather, who once drove trucks for the Chattahoochee Brick Co., “which used prison labor as slave labor during Jim Crow,” Mike notes (his skull is brimming with such history). It was through his grandfather “that I started to understand class versus race; I often had more in common with working-class whites than with the Southern liberals my grandma looked up to, or with the blacks of means who lived over in Collier Heights.” That neighborhood, he elaborates, “was the result of planned gentrification: Democrats actually bought land out from under poor whites in order to bring blacks to the party”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Timothy Saccenti

A thoughtful, engaged kid, Mike spent time in high school as an anti-violence mediator with a group called Black Teens for Advancement. He fell in love with Fred Hampton and James Baldwin and enrolled at Morehouse College – a storied black school whose alumni include Martin Luther King Jr. and Spike Lee. There, Mike studied philosophy and religion. “I wanted to understand man,” he says. “I was raised a black child in the South, where you’re indoctrinated into a religion that an oppressor gave you. That left all types of fucked-up questions in me.” He kept rapping, too, and through a classmate, he met OutKast’s Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, who rewarded Mike’s raw talent with a record deal. Radicalism coursed through his early work, but he also strove for commercial success, at times in ways he now deems hollow: Mike’s breakthrough single, a bouncy sex jam called “A.D.I.D.A.S.,” reached Number 60 on the pop charts, but he disavows it. “It’s an OutKast song that I was instructed to release,” he says. “I hate it”.

I am so glad that the duo is putting out music seven years after their debut, Run the Jewels. They have not really missed a beat in all this time; all of their albums have been received well, and I guess that is to do with a chemistry and understanding between Killer Mike and El-P. Before discussing RTJ4, I want to look back at the urgency of Run the Jewels 3 (released in 2016). I want to mention that album, as not a lot has really changed in terms of American society and what Run the Jewels are rallying against. Their music offers guidance and answers, but I can imagine how frustrated they are having to see the same scenes on the news happen years after that album came out! Run the Jewels 3 was penned at a time when there was so much corruption and brutality and, in 2020, it has almost gotten worse! It is such a sad and sorry state at the moment.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Let us hope that continued protest and demand for justice results in some change in America. The election is coming up soon, and so many people hope President Trump loses so that America can move forward and find a leader who can effectively address racism and make some real changes. When one learns about Run the Jewels 3 and what Killer Mike and El-P were witnessing around them, there are parallels to today. This Pitchfork interview explains more:

“The writing occurred amid one of the most turbulent years in American history. Of course, this endemic chaos left claw marks all over the record; roiling discontent, political toxicity, and police murders are addressed. In person, you can sense a residual weariness in both Mike and El, a reluctance to be asked for answers that no one possesses. With RTJ 3, they do what they have to do: capture the bleakness and despair of a pestilential time, but refuse to let it drag them down. In the process, they’ve held onto their title as the best rap group alive.

If anything, the new record might reveal them as inveterate optimists. This election cycle also found Mike emerging as one of the most eloquent political voices of his generation, frequently appearing alongside Bernie Sanders during the senator’s presidential run, and beyond the duo’s sustained anger at oppressors is their unstinting belief that human beings can change. That somehow, if we can stop lying and hating one another, we can actually improve upon this monstrous world”.

Four years on from Run the Jewels 3, America is experiencing a new crisis and wave of anger. Look back at Run the Jewels 3, and that was when Trump was coming into office and it was a very odd time. I remember a lot of disbelief surrounding his election win, and I can only picture how Killer Mike felt when Trump became President. RTJ4 has been released at a time when Trump is faced with a new challenge: can he win over American voters later this year and remain President?!

Killer Mike was interviewed by The Ringer, and he was asked about the time between Run the Jewels’ last two albums and how Trump impacted both records:

“How much of your art is a reaction to current events? The third Run the Jewels record came out at the beginning of the Trump administration. How have the past four years affected what went into RTJ 4 versus the earlier albums?

There’s a difference in tone. A lot of the third record was written in the lead-up to that moment, and that year was incredibly emotional for people who are empathetic and who are paying attention. There was a lot of very publicized tragedy and murder, of innocent civilians by police. There was a lot of clear injustice that was really making its way into public consciousness, I think, for a lot of people for the first time. Every time you turned on the news, you were getting brutalized by tragedy. That cast a hue over the record. Mike calls it our blue record. It’s way moodier than other records I’ve done.

This one, you’ll hear the difference. We weren’t in that exact same place. This is a lot more aggressive, it’s a lot more—I don’t know how to say it, man. This is the reason why I’m not a music critic. But I’ll just say that you will hear it. It is a different record. It’s a punch in the face until it’s not, I’ll tell you that”.

I have a couple more things to talk about before reviewing a track from RTJ4, as it is important to discuss the fact Run the Jewels have changed labels since Run the Jewels 3 came out. The duo has grown in scope and popularity since 2016, so it is only natural that they would need a label with a larger team who could support them and help bring their music to a wider audience.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan B. Harper

In this article from NME, we learn more about Run the Jewels’ switch of labels:

“The duo, comprised of El-P and Killer Mike, are set to release the record on June 5 via BMG, having put out their previous three LPs through independent labels.

In a new interview with Billboard, RTJ and their manager spoke of how the group’s increasing popularity warranted a larger team to be put behind them.

“The truth of the matter is, [Run The Jewels] outgrew our capability to handle it correctly,” El-P explained. “You just have to acknowledge what it is. This is way bigger than we ever expected it to be and I think we’re still amazed by how big it got.”

The group’s manager, Amaechi Uziogwe, added: “We knew it was time to take a step up. We didn’t hit all of the marks that we set out to hit yet and we realised, at a certain point, you need that sort of [label] muscle behind you.”

Killer Mike said that he hoped to increase Run The Jewels’ global reach with BMG’s backing. “I want to bring the energy in our music everywhere from Mexico City to Melbourne [and] from southeast Asia to Africa,” he explained”.

The last thing I want to discuss is how and why artists are releasing albums during lockdown. It may appear counterintuitive to put an album out when you cannot promote as normal and perform the songs. I think there is a new hunger for music, and I admire the gamble artists are taking putting albums out right now. Dua Lipa, Fiona Apple and many others have released albums at a very odd time for us all. I do think that RTJ4 is an essential album that needs to be heard, so hanging back, and putting it out months from now might dent some of its power and politics. Whilst, understandably, Killer Mike and El-P are incensed and lost at what is happening in their country – and others around the world -, they have always offered optimism and a sense of hope.

I never feel weighed down and downbeat when I listen to their music. They can deliver a powerful message but give you energy and motivation at the same time. The duo were asked by GQ how they feel putting their album out given the current circumstances:

“GQ: Does it feel strange preparing to release a record in the midst of a global pandemic?

El-P: It's like, "Yup, this is just exactly what we think might happen right when we're getting ready to release the record of our careers!" But, for me, and I think I speak for Mike too, the chance to share some of the music has taken off a lot of that stress. One of the major stresses for me was "Goddammit! I want to connect again! I want to connect with the people!” It's uncertain and it's tense and it's stressful and we don't have much that we can do except bring a little bit of joy by dropping some of this stuff.

Killer Mike: I'm eternally optimistic. I own a couple other businesses that we've had to shut down: food trucks, restaurants, and barbershops. Not only have I been dealing with musically having to make sure our tour managers, sound guys, and stuff are straight, we got regular, everyday employees. Although I'm very optimistic, in this time, I'm appreciating being able to sit down and figure it out and not be under the gun like so many people are under the gun. Musicians and the people around us, we know that eventually work will turn, but my bigger concerns are for the people who work everyday jobs. I'm hopeful that some form of normalcy will return and that the country will get back on course”.

Another thing I love about Run the Jewels is how they can bring other people into the fold and add something special to the music. They have worked with DJ Shadow recently, and on Run the Jewels 3, collaborators like Danny Brown and Kamas Washington helped bring some of their best songs to new places. They have worked with a cast of quite different artists, and they have 2 Chainz, Zack de la Rocha and Greg Nice on various tracks through RTJ4. Their eleven-track latest masterwork sprinkles its collaborators gently and adds them into the pot for best effect – the track I want to cover has two of my favourite artists working on it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Timothy Saccenti/Press

One would assume that Mavis Staples and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) would not be seen on the same song. After all, the legendary Staples and the Rock god Homme cover different plains, and their music is quite different! I think they work wonderfully on pulling the pin. This track is the penultimate cut on RTJ4, and it is my favourite moment from the album. The intro and opening moments of the tracks has this sort of uneasiness, and we hear some chuckling and beats. There is an electronic whirl, and the scene is set for El-P. I love the first verse, as it is delivered perfectly: never too angered or rushed; the words are delivered carefully-yet-powerfully so that you can take every line in. Every listener will have their own take and impression regarding the lyrical truth, but I just love this passage: “From a long line of the rancidest swine came the violators/The cloven foot designers of high crime for the iron ages/Twisting down through time, see them tryna unwind creation/Don't be surprised, it's a mistake to think their influence had faded/"Well, what a wretched state of danger we've made here," I thought to me”. There is clear anger against the government and those on high but, because of the way Run the Jewels write and how they deploy language, there is so much depth and new possibilities in their words! I was picturing all sorts of different images and twisted scenes as El-P delivered. Josh Homme’s presence is not too obvious in the early stages, but I can detect his guitar yearning, and I think he pitches in with some wordless vocals at various points during the first verse – adding in a little bit of cool and spice when required. “You will not travel towards the light if they're in charge of your departure/You'd think the universe forgot us the way the cursed pitch their product (Woo)/As though our spirit's not a fire that can't be snuffed or turned to dollars”. There are few acts that have a way with words like Run the Jewels. Where it is easier to unpick lines and get to the core of a song when faced with something plainer, the complexity and beautiful language through pulling the pin means I was not trying to decode every line and get deep down.

Instead, I was letting the words swim in the blood, and I was lost in my imagination. There is outrage, for sure, and the feeling that history is repeating itself; America (and the world) making the same mistakes and allowing corruption and bigotry to rule. There is this feeling that wealth is ruling, and that people are being trampled down. I like the fact that there is the odd lick and utterance from Josh Homme, before we get a full verse of Mavis Staples. Her introduction is inspired, and she offers a different tone to that of El-P; her words cut to the core and are filled with emotion and meaning: “And at best, I'm just getting it wrong/And at worst, I've been right from the start/It hurts, I'm bein' torn apart/There's a grenade in my heart and the pin is in their palm/There's a grenade/There's a grenade/A grenade”. I adore Staples’ voice, and she is such a powerful and striking force. Mavis Staples’ wrought and hugely expressive verse then seamlessly blends into Killer Mike’s verse. There is a feeling that, as ever, evil reigns and the good and virtuous are being snuffed and torn apart. I love the switch from El-P’s vocal sound and tone to that of Mavis Staples, then to Killer Mike – the various waves and gear changes makes the song even more impactful. Killer Mike is definitely in a troubled state of mind: “At best, I feel difficult, poor and you pitiful/Then every day's like a satanic ritual/Beautiful soul with the rogue and the criminal/How long must the holy hold onto they principles?/Kickin' and screamin' while watchin' the demons…”. Killer Mike’s delivery is more frantic than that of El-P and Staples, so you get this very tangible feel of the song racing and intensifying. Not only does Killer Mike’s verse name-check/shame Jimmy Saville (unexpected and random), but it contains some of the most alarming and enflamed words Run the Jewels have put to paper – “The devils, they do the despicable/And still, they move like they invincible/These filthy criminals sit at the pinnacle”. After a brief pause, Mavis Staples comes back to the fore and offers something different in pace/tone but no less sobering and thought-provoking! Her input is essential, and I like how Homme, whilst not heard that much vocally, definitely makes an impact – and he is credited as a writer and producer on pulling the pin. It is a phenomenal track from one of 2020’s best and most important albums. With tracks like pulling the pin, Run the Jewels have created a work of sheer brilliance!

PHOTO CREDIT: Cooper Neill/Getty Images

I want to wrap up by, not only recommending that you listen to RTJ4 and buy it when it comes out physically in September – visit Run the Jewels’ homepage and you can see links of where you can pre-order the album -, but I wanted to return to the solidity and brotherhood of the duo. I think we will see many more years of Killer Mike and El-P making music of the very highest order! You can listen to any of their four albums, and there is something very special and impossible-to-fake about their music. They were asked by GQ about Run the Jewels’ continued necessity and popularity – and why their music still resonates and connects with people:

“I think times of crisis can be moments where a lot of us reflect on what we’re choosing to invest our time and resources in. As artists who are decades into your respective careers, with success and the ability to do any number of things, what about continuing to release music as Run the Jewels feels vital? What has brought you both back for a fourth time?

El-P: Because it's fucking magic! It's magical! And no matter what me and Mike go through, no matter how hard it can be sometimes, we know that it's just magic. And we're not fucking done yet! We always said that we'd do four records at a bare minimum. The EPMD four classic album model.

Killer Mike: All the greatest groups had four classics: EPMD, OutKast, 8Ball & MJG, UGK. LIke, it's magic and it's fun and most human beings fuck shit up by getting in their own way. And I think that El and I, more than anything, have avoided our own egos and we've grown. We said we had to do four classic records just before we were a real group, you know what I mean? So, four is just the beginning of Run the Jewels. With Run the Jewels 4 dropping we are finally in the big leagues now.

I haven’t had this much fun making music since I was a child. And 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 shit ‘til it's over. I'll stop when I'm dead.

El-P: Motherfuckers are really just gonna have to accept the fact that this is not like a fucking ego project. This is what we do. Run the Jewels is what we do! That's it—until this shit is unbearable and Mike can't stand me and I can't stand him anymore”.

I am not sure whether the guys will be able to do much touring this year; keep an eye on their socials to see what is happening. I know they will be busy next year, so go and see them play if you can! Do go and listen to RTJ4 as, not only is it one of this year’s most powerful and essential albums; it is a record that has so much hope to offer – as is common with any and every Run the Jewels album. You come away feeling more determined to see change; more aware of the world around you but, also, more inspired and energised. It is a fantastic album that just goes to show that we need Run the Jewels…