RUN THE JEWELS / Run The Jewels [2013]

After a successful co-headlining tour together, veteran hip-hoppers El-P & Killer Mike decided to collaborate under the name Run The Jewels and release their 2013 eponymous album.
Clocking in at an all too short 33 minutes, the duo make damned sure it's all killer, no filler with El's fast-talking paranoid Philip K. Dick-ian wordplay complimenting Mike's aggressively punchy deliveries.  The electronic-infused backbeats are flavored with some fuzzy 808 synth-lines and bassy retro drum-tracks that tickle the eardrums.  As heavy as some of the subject matter gets, the album never feels too preachy and it's easy to hear the fun the two buddies are having together.  It doesn't have the even flow of a proper album but it certainly has more coherency than a mixtape.  Whatever it might be, it's obvious these guys are in their proper element and demands immediate replay.

4 puddles of cat piss out of 5

Songs of Note: DDFH; Twin Hype Back

KILLER MIKE / R.A.P. Music [2012]

Hip hop artist Killer Mike's 2012 album, R.A.P. Music is another great addition to his all ready strong discography.  Part of that strength could be credited to El-P's dense n' dirty production on the record.

Mike & El-P seem like a match made in heaven with angry lyrical deliveries colliding with angry synth heavy beats and samples.  Mike's stingy style and poetic personality seem to echo that of the Ice Cube of yesteryear, before he went all family friendly film star.  

Without a doubt, this is one of the essential hip-hop albums of 2012.

4½ hollow presidential puppets out of 5

Songs Of Note: Go!; Don't Die