When Kendrick Lamar rapped “Critics want to mention that they miss when hip hop was rappin'/Motherfucker, if you did, then Killer Mike'd be platinum” all the way back in 2015, he seemed to prophesise the next awakening of the greatest rap duo making music today.
RTJ 3 was the gift that Killer Mike and El-P gave to the world on Christmas Eve last year and, platinum-selling record or not, it was one of the most vicious, lyrically astute albums to be released in 2016. Featuring biting polemic attacks on societal and class divisions that transcended Trump-era America, RTJ threw a pistol and fist in the air and spoke for the disaffected globally.
And yet the duo doesn’t exactly strike you as being a rap’s most lethal Molotov cocktail. Both looking very much middle-aged as they bounce on stage at The Olympia, Mike and El have shifted the parameters about what artists at the top of their game should look like. Then again, looks undoubtedly mean very little when you have the lyrics, flow, delivery and production values that Run The Jewels have.
Backed by a giant inflatable pistol/fist combo hanging from the stage, Run The Jewels begin with ‘Talk To Me’, the first release of RTJ3. It’s the first song of many to come loaded with some absolutely incredible lines (“You think baby Jesus killed Hitler just so I'd whisper?”), setting the tone for the evening.
‘Talk To Me’ is followed by a set that’s heavy on tracks from Run The Jewels 3, with a few songs from their older records thrown in for good measure. El-P points out that the “RTJ” chant on the album version of ‘Legend Has It’ was actually recorded the last time the duo played in Dublin, giving those who were there for that gig a special kind of privilege.
Highlights of the night include the pulsated ‘Call Ticketron’ (where the crowd is asked to record the event for the single’s music video), ‘Don’t Get Captured’ (followed by Mike necking pints of Guinness), ‘Love Again’ (with its admittedly ridiculous chorus, “I put that dick in her mouth all day”), and the incredibly poignant final track from 3, ‘A Message To The Shareholders: Kill Your Masters. At the song's end Mike, speaks like the leader we all need when he says:“You don’t need politicians, religions or other people to tell you you’re free. You are born free."
The encore brings out the beautifully titled ‘Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)’ before finished where they started with ‘Down’, track No. 1 from their newest release. “A couple people prayed for my demise, y’all/But like cream I had to rise, I had to rise, y’all”, raps Killer Mike in the chorus.
Keep rising lads.