"Yankee and the Brave (Ep. 4)" Released: March 22, 2020
"Ooh La La" Released: March 25, 2020
"Just" Released: June 14, 2020
RTJ4[a] is the fourth studio album by American hip hop duo Run the Jewels. It was released digitally through their own Jewel Runners imprint via BMG Rights Management on June 3, 2020, two days earlier than scheduled, with physical editions released in September 2020. As with their previous albums, a download of the album is available for free through their website, with the option of paying for it via other digital providers. The album features guest appearances from Greg Nice, DJ Premier, 2 Chainz, Pharrell Williams, Mavis Staples, Josh Homme, and frequent collaborator Zack de la Rocha.
RTJ4 received widespread acclaim from critics and debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200, their first top 10 album on the chart. The album was supported by three singles: "Yankee and the Brave (Ep. 4)", "Ooh La La", and "Just".
Background and artwork
The album was first announced on October 11, 2018, with the release of the non-album single "Let's Go (The Royal We)", which was featured in the 2018 superhero film Venom and debuted on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show.[12]
In an interview with The Verge, El-P said that for RTJ4's album cover he wanted to turn the Run the Jewels finger gun and fist logo futuristic in a way "that harkens back to some of the most basic shapes", which inspired the low poly artwork. Tim Saccenti said he also worked on design and 3D printed the artwork into a glossy sculpture. He stated that the designers took photographs of it in multiple different colored lightings to reference the color schemes of the duo's previous albums and combined the results for the final cover.[13]
Promotion and release
The album's first single, "Yankee and the Brave (Ep. 4)", was released on March 22, 2020.[14] The album's second single, "Ooh La La" featuring Greg Nice and DJ Premier, was released on March 25, three days later.[15] The music video for "Ooh La La" was released on April 27, 2020.[16]
Fuck it, why wait. The world is infested with bullshit so here's something raw to listen to while you deal with it all. We hope it brings you some joy. Stay safe and hopeful out there and thank you for giving 2 friends the chance to be heard and do what they love. With sincere love and gratitude, Jaime + Mike.[17]
RTJ4 was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 89, based on 26 reviews.[7] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[6]
Will Lavin of NME praised the album, stating, "Easily Mike and El-P's best work to date, RTJ4 is protest music for a new generation; they're armed in the uprising with a torrent of spirited rallying calls".[1] Reviewing the album for Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan stated, "RTJ4, which the band rush-released a few days ahead of schedule, is laser-focused. [...] Mike unloads on racist cops, systemic poverty, corporate media, and other eternal enemies. But the album never feels preachy, because the music bounces as much as it brays, with an elastic flow and deep history".[26] Jack Bray of The Line of Best Fit wrote, "RTJ4 is Killer Mike & El-P's masterstroke. This is musical evolution for moral, social and political revolution, the group now creating anthems in the pursuit of tolerance, respect and unity".[2] Channing Freeman from Sputnikmusic also enjoyed the album, saying, "As is typical on Run the Jewels albums, every feature is perfectly placed, but the inclusion of Mavis Staples and Josh Homme may be El-P's finest production moment yet. Homme's ghostly wailing and questing guitar provide a backdrop for Staples to sing an image that perfectly distills not only RTJ's oeuvre but the bloody centuries of America's history".[28] For Pitchfork, Sheldon Pearce wrote that "RTJ4 centers protest music less explicitly than RTJ3 did, but the moments when the album is most pronouncedly in active revolt are still when it feels most essential".[25]
Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave a positive review, stating, "RTJ4 distills the anger and frustration of the people through Run the Jewels' hard-hitting, no-nonsense revolution anthems. Trim with no filler, this fourth set from the outspoken duo provides relevant history lessons that are more useful than a classroom textbook".[20]Exclaim! critic Kyle Mullin said of El-P, "The New York rapper-producer's greatest contribution to RTJ4 is his vivid and varied sonic backdrops. His on-point production offers the lyrically superior Killer Mike both space and sonic support as he rises to new heights of artistry and activism, making El-P the kind of ally worth emulating".[23] Mike Milenko of Clash said, "RTJ4 is a must listen. It is diverse enough to appeal to even the hardest crowds. Many genres are represented here, but lyrical hip-hop is at the forefront of all that Run the Jewels is. They stand out from the crowd, whilst invoking the people to stand up for themselves. There is not a bad song on the entire album and the production and features are second to none".[22]
In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau assigned the album an 'A+' grade and applauded the "vigor" of the duo's political direction and the lyrics as their "sharpest" yet, while declaring, "With trap on its opiated treadmill, the gangsta sonics that power El-P and Killer Mike's inchoate aggressiveness will feel tonic to anyone with both an appetite for music and a political pulse".[21]
RTJ4 debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200 with 38,000 album-equivalent units (including 30,000 pure album sales) from just two days of tracking, marking the duo's first top 10 album on the chart.[40]
Track listing
All tracks are produced by El-P, and co-produced by Little Shalimar and Wilder Zoby, except where noted.[41]
All other track titles are stylized in all lowercase
"A Few Words for the Firing Squad (Radiation)" includes the hidden track "Theme Music", listed in the album's liner notes as a separate track with identical credits.
RTJ Cuatro (stylized as RTJ Cu4tro) is a remix album of RTJ4 entirely made by Latin American artists released on November 11, 2022, through Jewel Runners and BMG.[56] It was curated and co-executive produced by Nick Hook, and supported by the promotional single "Caminando en la Nieve" (a remix of "Walking in the Snow") by him and Orestes Gomez featuring Akapellah, Apache and Pawmps.[57]
Background and composition
In a press release, El-P said the album was more than a remix: "It’s a reimagining of RTJ4 through the lens of collaboration and a fusing of numerous musical cultures and influences".[56] Run the Jewels also made a correlated fundraiser to help reunite families separated at the Mexico–United States border that accumulated over $116,000.[58] According to various reviews, the album features "wildly different sounds" all under a Latin umbrella,[59] including reggaeton, salsa-trap, dub, mariachi, and ranchera with bossa nova.[60][61]
Critical reception
In a perfect-score review for The Daily Telegraph, critic Cat Woods said that "the original lyrics don't lose any painful poignancy".[61] AllMusic gave RTJ Cuatro three and a half stars out of five, with reviewer Paul Simpson calling the project "largely successful" but "not quite as consistent as the original album".[60] Matthew Ismael Ruiz of Pitchfork wrote how the album felt not "like a joke" but "a genuine interest in Latinx artists", awarding a score of 7.2/10.[59]
