Hey Lovelites,
It’s with great pleasure that I share this review of the Run The Jewels show that was in Minneapolis this past weekend written by friend Steve. He is a Minneapolis Emcee and producer, you might know him by the moniker ‘Shelltoe‘. If you don’t him you better get to him ASAP because he recently shared that he his working on a collaboration project with Mike The Martyr, which is pretty exciting. I wasn’t able to attend the RTJ show myself but luckily Steve was in attendance and was kind enough to write up this review for me. Check out what he had to say about the ‘Jewel Runners’ and their recent show in Minneapolis below.
-xoTLO
Run The Jewels: Jewel Runner Fall Tour at First Avenue, Minneapolis (Review) – Written by Steve (Shelltoe)
“A wise man once said: We all dead, fuck it. Just spit it disgusting young’n and hold your nuts while you gunnin’” – El-P
Run the Jewels performed to a sold out crowd First Avenue – Main Room on Friday (10/23), from the moment they set foot on stage it was obvious the veteran duo were ready to perform to the MN slice of their rabid fanbase. El-P dedicated their set to the memory of Rhymesayer’s local legend Eyedea and took time during their set to say thank you to both the city of Minneapolis and Rhymesayer’s as a whole. For fans of both artists from their respective careers before RTJ, their collective success years later is a war cry for those who make and support the kind of music they want to make and support. El-P raps like he did with Funcrusher Plus and Killer Mike has also stayed consistent and cohesive as a rapper as well. The two on stage together laughing and performing together was equal parts ‘a long time coming’ and ‘I wonder what they’ll do next’.
The two are professional rappers. They said they had been on tour for 14 months straight and it showed. They were polished and precise. The set was fast-paced and aside from an acapella dialogue between the two with a social justice/race relations theme and the Rhymesayer’s thank you, the two blazed through their two albums. El-P brought his signature sarcastic wit and Killer Mike was as boisterous as ever. Some personal highlights of the show for me was when they performed Lie, Cheat, Steal and Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck). The crowd was a mix of rap fans and crust punks, the energy was very high for the entire set. This was my first time seeing Boots perform live and he brought an eccentricity that definitely left an impact. The crowd knew more lyrics to the RTJ 2, but moved harder to the first album.
The duo has done it right; They did it by rapping and sticking to their guns and striking a nerve. Half of the time it feels like they’re trying to outrap each other. It’s a dynamic that fills a much needed void in music today. They are friends, collaborators, and brothers and they have a cult-like following that will hang on their every word. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
“Producer gave me a beat, said it’s the beat of the year // I said EL-P didn’t do it so get the fuck outta here” – Killer Mike