Run the Jewels is one of hip-hop’s most feel-good stories. This is Buddy’s comedy equivalent of his comedy, where two Generation X rappers aged him join forces to breathe new life into his art and career. Michael Lender (killer mic) and Jaime Meline’s (Elle P) four studio albums (each a minted instant classic) are the product of their own alchemical bonds, even as they seek to emulate the long lines of the rap groups that came before them.
But a remix record is about looking outward, expanding the pool of collaborators, inviting artists with different perspectives to rethink the work. RTJ CU4TRO A train that draws artists from across the diaspora, focusing squarely on Latin America. The musicians featured here live on the cutting edge while flirting with the mainstream. The exception is the Oscar-winning Broadway megastars. Lin Manuel Miranda. in the meantime RTJ CU4TRO It’s not the group’s first remix record. jokeThe center of the project is Brooklyn Nick Hook, a frequent collaborator on Run the Jewels, and helped curate and co-executive produce the album with El-P. The record relies heavily on Hook’s working relationship and is as much a result of his taste as the group’s.
RTJ CU4TRO While it highlights some of the more exciting Latino artists working in the margin, it doesn’t really work as a coherent album. There is none. It’s as if you’re trying to reassemble the puzzle in the same way, even after all the pieces have changed shape. That contradiction is somewhat inevitable, as the only connective tissue other than the original material is the amorphous ‘Latin’ category (a commercial-driven catch-all that often puts different genres under the same umbrella). A rare Run the Jewels project where the sum of the parts exceeds the whole.
RTJ CU4TRO It may be a free-for-all collaboration, but there are still some memorable moments. The best feel the most change when the connection to the original is barely perceptible. Bomba Estereo‘s airy electronic palette pulls “Never Look Back” from the gutter into the ether. Meanwhile, cumbia punk Son Rompe Pera continues his relentless campaign to make the marimba sound hard AF with “El Suelo de Bajo”. Perhaps the most surprising is Nick Hook and Danny Brasco’s reinvention of The Goonies vs. ET. It pulls the saxophone out of its previous crunchy, chaotic mix, pairing it with a moody new piano melody and a scene-stealing performance from Sala La Molina. .
Some were transformed by new vocal performances rather than dramatic production changes.Mexican rapper Pawmps heats up gangstabooThe ice-cold hook of “caminando en la nieve” and the light-hearted Spanish translation, and Lido Pimienta Manage seemingly impossible matches Mavis StaplesThe intensity from “pulling the pin” with her distinctive dissonant whine on “Tirando El Detonador.” Also, the Mexican Institute of Sound’s version of “ooh la la” sounds a little sleepier than the original, but the Guanajuato MC Santa Fe Clan’s roll Rs and aggressive vocal timbres are what they sounded like in the original. It complements Mike and Jaime so much that I wonder if it is.
Meline and Hook deserve props for seeking collaborators from the diaspora (Honduras, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico). Even better is the fact that there are black and brown artists involved here. An industry that tends to be centered around white Latino performers. In that sense, RTJ CU4TRO It feels more like a genuine interest in Latino artists than it is about embracing culture. This is a tacit acknowledgment of the lack of these perspectives in what has hitherto been an intimate collaborative project.
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