Sounds

REVIEW: Run the Jewels’ “RTJ3”

by Darcy MacDonald

Killer Mike and El-P’s NYC/ATL hip hop sensibilities shine on their third album.

RTJ3Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 3 (Run the Jewels, Inc.)

Killer Mike and El-P keep the smashes coming with a third collection of battering, abrasive anthems for times that definitely deserve two middle fingers way up in the air. Their last outing refined all they had gotten right in round one as they evolved from a band to a movement of their own. With this third offering, the duo — sharp and jarring as ever, mind you — foster a new approachability in style and sound, less a departure than a detour to something a little less crowded, but which remains weirdly elegant, with those hybrid NYC/ATL hip hop sensibilities intact. The results are, as always, gorgeous and hard-hitting. Run and get these jewels. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Talk to Me” (Darcy MacDonald) Run the Jewels perform with openers the Gaslamp Killer, Gangsta Boo, Nick Hook and Cuz at Metropolis (59 Ste-Catherine E.) on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m., $36/$38

Posted in Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.