The Daily Spin, May 30
Run The Jewels | RTJ4
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: RTJ4 (2020)
Artist: Run The Jewels
Link:
Run The Jewels got serious on this album, and it’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
Through their previous works, both solo and together as RTJ, they had established a certain rapport with each other and with the dichotomy of serious versus comedic as it pertained to their rap. They took things seriously, developing a reputation for hard-hitting societal critiques, unafraid of going toe-to-toe with big names in American and global politics with all the bravado of a matador flagging their prey, and yet, in the same verse, they could turn it around and land a dick joke with snappy wordplay that only further served to accentuate the talent at hand.
RTJ4 feels, in many ways, like the evolution of this. As it approaches more serious material, the comedy falls back somewhat, and given that this was released mere weeks after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by the police, critiques of power structures only hit harder, with songs like ‘walking in the snow’ standing out as beautiful odes in this regard.
The comedy doesn’t completely disappear - they’re still funny, and both rappers are unbelievably talented to turn wordplay around the way they do, but by letting the beats and the earnestness speak for themselves, they curate a unique and much needed listening perspective.
Rating: 8.5/10
Best Tracks: holy calamafuck; never look back
Worst Tracks: yankee and the brave