"RTJ4" Breakdown: The Final Verdict

Wrapping up my week long deep dive into "RTJ 4", I want to talk about how important, influential and historic this record is.

This is one of the best records to come out in years. I have deep dived into each song, wrote a piece on the "ooh la la" video and have listened to it dozens of times to this point. It is a solid record with hit after hit. This is one album where you don't skip any songs. Each song has something cool and unique and different. The 11 tracks on here offer something to every listener. I feel like this is a record that can get non hip hop people, people who say they don't like rap, to listen and find something they enjoy. It spans genres and has something for everyone. It is a perfect record. It has made that seemingly impossible goal.

As for its importance, I mean, there are about a million different reasons why this is an important record. We live in dark, dark times. There is a pandemic, there is police brutality and murder, there is a "president" that is clearly a white supremacist. We live in the darkest timeline. We live in a "Black Mirror" episode right now. So the importance of "RTJ 4" is front and center. They talk about all of it, and then some. They cover all kinds of ground. "walking in the snow" has Killer Mike saying the words, "I can't breath" in a whisper, and he wrote that over two years ago. It is even more prominent now. This is the protest record that we all need right now. This is the record filled with anthems that will be played at rallies and protests and any other gathering of individuals that want change, that need change. We need things to be different. We need equal rights for all. Black Lives Matter. The police have too much money and power. The "government" is a sham and a farce. It is all covered on this album perfectly. Every time I listen I get the slightest sense of relief. I think that things are going to be okay. I have this hope that the future is in good hands. And a lot of it is due to the searing lyrics on "RTJ 4". A lot is also due to Killer Mike and El-P. And I know during the week it feels like I haven't spoken about El-P enough. I want to say that he is tremendous, a great rapper, an excellent producer and beat maker and the best partner Killer Mike could have ever asked for. El-P is awesome. Killer Mike just does something otherworldly on this album. They both have gotten better, Killer Mike is just in a whole other echelon right now. He grew leaps and bounds on this album. He is the voice of the new generation. I know he may not want that position, but dammit, he is too important to all of us right now. Listen to the album, and then go watch him speak on the myriad of shows he has appeared on for the past month. He is speaking the truth.

As for the album’s influence, I am sure, almost 100 percent, that there are kids out there, teenagers, kids in their early 20's, who want to make important political music, and their gateway, their textbook, will be "RTJ 4". There is going to be a big group of people that come up in the next decade, and some that will hit it big, I would bet any money that they reference "RTJ 4" as the reason why they decided to push on. Just like 70's rockers thank old blues musicians, or Daft Punk talks about French synth music, or The Beatles talking about Little Richard, that will be "RTJ 4" in the future. I have no doubts.

And as for its history, hell it is all above. This record is going to go down as one of the greats. Years from now, it will be on best of the early 2020's lists. This is going to be a record that all publications and websites as the revolutionary record of the 2020 pandemic. People will talk about it as an election year record. It is going to be talked about for years and years to come, and that is such a great thing. There is a movement happening. People are fed up, we are angry, we don't like the police or the "government" and enough is enough. "RTJ 4" is the soundtrack to this revolution that is going to happen sooner rather than later. It is one of the best records that have ever been put into existence, and it will be remembered for all time.

I thank Run the Jewels, and I am so very impressed by what they did. I am going to go listen to the record the 100th time now. I suggest you do too. 

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.