It’s time folks. Released early, here is RTJ 4. The album opens with the 2 singles, “Yankee and The Brave”. It sounds like RTJ are presenting this album as a full concept album. We are greeted to the “this week on “Yankee and The Brave”. I hope this plays out through the whole album. It’s very typical RTJ sound. It’s a banger. I’ve written about these songs before (Yankee and The Brave, and Ooh LA LA), so I’ll save most of those thoughts.

“Pugilistic my linguistic are Jeru The Damager

And I rap it pornograhic please set up the camera “

So much is happening in those two lines.

Track 3, shoutout Noreaga. Killer Mike is on something different on this track. “Ever ready baby boy, bet it, movin extra heavy, whip is chevy, gotta get it…” I love the beat on this one. Here is Killer Mike at his best. His second verse is too much. 2 Chainz features on this track. Compared to what El-P and Killer Mike did with this beat, this feels like a weak verse.

“Holy Calamafuck” initially feels like an experimental track from El-P. The first part of this song sounds like El-P pushing the limits of his creativity. There’s the beat switch and we are back to familiar El-P. This part of the track reminds me of one of their early tracks, “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”. It flows right into “Goonies Vs. ET” and I don’t know how El-P brings so much sonic creativity. The beat switch at :50 seconds in is wild. The backbone of this beat reminds me of something off of “Yeezy” (It was “I Am A God”). El-P is incredible.

“Walking In The Snow” begins very aggressively. Speaking to social issues, El-P breaks down so much in such a short amount of time. I need to dive deeper into that verse, it’s dense. Throwback to having Gangsta Boo feature on a track. Killer Mike goes into the education and prison system and touches on “I can’t breathe”.

“And you so numb you watch the cops

Choke out a man like me.

Until my voice goes from a shriek

To whisper “I can’t breathe”

And you sit there in house and couch

And watch it on TV.

The most you give’s a twitter rant

And called it a tragedy.

But truly the travesty

You’ve been robbed of your empathy,

replace it with apathy.

I wish I could magically

Fastword to future so that you can face it and see how fucked up it be.

I promise I’m honest they comin for you the day after they comin for me”

Real lines from Killer Mike. Oh shit….

“Never forget the story of Jesus

The Hero was killed by the State”

They’ve been preaching this since their initial release, RTJ. Ju$t features an appearance from Pharrell and from Zach De La Rocha. This track is bass heavy and comes with a fiery chorus, “Look at all these slave masters posin on your dollar”. Wow. (It’s in a similar cadence from the NERD track “Everybody Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For The Bathroom), but it brings a different punch (for obvious reasons).

Nothing’s changed since the release of RTJ1, and that is both good and bad. The good - Run The Jewels stay true to who they are. El-P’s musical creations are perfect for this project and that hasn’t changed 4 albums in. It’s almost like their mindsets are synced, though it may be common to find people who share the same mindset as Killer Mike and El-P, these two have put together their talents and have created one of the most legendary hip-hop duos in history. The bad - Society hasn’t changed. It might be hard to expect these changes to occur in a matter of a few years, but the topics of their songs and the project as a whole are as relevant as ever. Especially given the circumstances surrounding the album’s release. Another great album from Run The Jewels. 8/10