With “RTJ4” locked and loaded, Run The Jewels have linked up with Rick Rubin for a lengthy discussion on life and music.
This Valentine’s Day, Killer Mike and El-P made an announcement that shocked the world: Run The Jewels 4 has been completed. In a subsequent interview, El dished a few more details about the album’s direction, indicating that the fourth installment will clock in at a reasonable eleven tracks. Billing the project as “the hardest” the batch, El revealed that he and Mike channeled EPMD’s triumphant four-album run during the creation process. Now, with a more detailed announcement feeling inevitable, Killer Mike and El Producto have taken a moment to chop it up on Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s s Broken Record podcast.
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While the conversation is rather casual, more a discussion among friends than an album-centric info dump, it provides an interesting insight into the creative process two elite emcees. “You have to become okay with the musical output from your past,” explains El, likening the process with therapy. “It’s a part you. Reconciling with who you were so you can understand who you are now. Being cool with it…A real obsession guy like myself can listen to one my records and hear a thousand things I wish I had done.” Mike agrees, mentioning that he argued with Scarface for an hour about that same topic. “I can’t believe he was unsatisfied with his music,” marvels Mike. “That’s probably why he has a thirty-two year career and no wack albums.”
Be sure to check out the full conversation below, especially if you’re a fan the RTJ movement. Seeing as Mike and El have already blessed us with three hard-hitting albums and have yet to fumble the bag, it’s fair to deem them both masters the craft. Look no further than the latest episode Broken Record for pro that very fact.