The New York City based rap duo has released a video for a track off their second effort, Run The Jewels 2.
The duo, who released their first album on Fool’s Gold and their second, from which the song below hails, has been lauded by many for their progressive and thoughtful lyricism and style. They certainly balance each other out in this video in terms of style, where El-P, seen above on the left, takes on barrages of fast rap attacks, heaving wave after wave of rapid onslaught lyrics upon the camera, where his counterpart Killer Mike adopts a slightly less garrulous gab, and allows some time between each of his words to let the gravity of what he is saying really sink in.
The slightly psychedelic nature of this video works well with the line drawing in post production as well as the graffiti background where they have domain over what goes on in their world. El-P has some great lines in the first verse that allude to the difficulties of life in New York City, as well as being brave enough to “tea bag a piranha tank”. Killer Mike lives up to his name with lines like “I love Dr. King, but violence might be necessary, cause when you live on MLK and it gets very scary, you might have to pull out your AK and send one to the cemetery.”
The glinting red eyes and the flashing words add a sense of uncanny distraction and subliminal messaging that is reinforced by the creepy Obama mask. The two have certainly hit the nail on the head of their statement with this new video, that includes break beats and dubstep breakdowns. Check it out below!