"RTJ4" Breakdown: Day 2

Okay, so the next 3 songs I'm going to talk about off "RTJ 4" run the gamut of greatness, importance, revolutionary and may be the best three song sequence I have ever heard on a record in my lifetime. These songs are going to go down in history. Especially the first one I'm going to speak on, "Walking in the Snow".

“Walking in the Snow” is the anthem for the current mode of society. This song speaks so many truths it is insane. The fact that this was written well before what is currently going on in the country involving the police is foreboding. It has some "Simpsons" type vibe to it as in predicting the future. The song starts off with a very cool, very distorted guitar. Then it shifts right into verse one, and El-P crushes. He is so good at talking about how bad the world is. How people are treated unfairly because of their place in the world. He says so many things that I agree and can relate with. Throw in the fact that Gangsta Boo is doing the chorus, it makes this song great. What makes this song legendary, historic and profound is Killer Mike's verse. The way he breaks down school scores in world wide testing is perfect. When he then shifts to this is how they predict what prisons will be like in the future, I swear to goodness he is an oracle. He then hits us with the verse where he talks about a police officer choking him out until he says, "I can' breathe", it took my breath away in the best, and most prolific way I have ever been through when listening to music. To then follow it up saying the best it will get out of people is a Twitter rant and people talking for a week, then just forgetting about it, I don't know if a truer statement has been made in music. Both come back with minor verses to close out the song, and I love what Gangsta Boo does at the end. But, "Walking in the Snow" is going to become the anthem for the time. It will be our new "Fuck tha Police", our new "Fight the Power", our new protest anthem for decades to come. This song was a vision of the future when they wrote it around two years ago, and to hear it now, it brings a shiver down my spine by how accurate it is. It is, without a doubt, the most important song on the record, and might be, scratch that, is the most important song of the year, and possibly decade.

They follow that up with "JU$T", which features Zack de la Rocha and Pharrell Williams. This song is a perfect encapsulation of people trying to make money off their image, but being controlled by the government and the powers that be. Killer Mike mentions all this in the first verse. He also does it later in the song when he talks about telling us to "Kill Your Masters", which is also a great, important song. Pharrel Williams is fantastic on the chorus. The things he says are so true, and the way it is put out there is perfect. El-P then comes in and reiterates what Killer Mike says, but puts his wonderful spin on current affairs. He is a great, great writer. Add that to his production, the guy is a genius. His comedy line at the end of his verse is dope as hell too. Then de la Rocha comes in and spits straight fire like he has always done. His verse is brutal, he rips everyone and the verse apart. I love the distortion he uses on the mic too, that is kind of his signature. When he teams up with RTJ, it is going to work no matter what. When the three of them are together on a track, that is what gives me my most visceral moments when I listen. I yell out in my car, or on my runs whenever I hear the three of them trade verses. It is true beauty.

"Never Look Back" is RTJ at their bleakest on this record, but they do that better than anyone. This song is all about not dealing with the BS, at least for me. They both had rough childhoods it sounds, but they are pushing ahead and trying to right their wrongs. This song is kind of like them growing up on the mic. It is really cool to hear them talk about personal experiences, and how they have grown from them. I like when artists bare themselves on tracks like this. They also slow this one down a bit in the middle, but come back with a vengeance, and of course it works. When El-P comes back in after the little slow down, and he and Killer Mike trade words and verses, it is such a great way to close out this near perfect track.

These three songs are some of the best songs, in any genre of music, that I have heard in quite some time. This is the point in some records where it might drag. But "RTJ 4" is different. They take this time to really push their message out there. They let it all out on these three songs, and like I said at the top, these songs are going to go down in history as three of the most important songs in music history. I do want to single out "Walking in the Snow" one more time. That song will be talked about forever. I feel like my son will be talking about it when he is my age. It has that kind of staying power. This run of songs only solidifies how perfect "RTJ 4" truly is.

This is one of the best runs of songs on an album of all time. This is like what The Beatles did on "Abbey Road". I'm not joking, and that is the highest of high compliments from someone like me. These songs are perfect. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.