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RTJ3

by Run the Jewels

Released December 24, 2016

Reviewed December 23, 2021

Top tracks (based on community voting)
Legend Has It (56%), A Report to the Shareholders / Kill Your Masters (36%), Hey Kids (Bumaye) (32%)

With the third installment in the Run the Jewels series, Killer Mike and El-P deliver a show stopping performance. Through 14 tracks, the legendary duo speaks on everything, offering intricate social commentary in the form of lyrical bars. This album is for those who are a fan of substance, with production going hand in hand with the mechanical demonstration the duo bring; enhancing, and never overpowering. Run The Jewels 3 is an album you’d give to a young emcee with a pen and paper to take notes. The duo’s ability to overlay concepts while following a multi-faceted rhyme-scheme is always impressive. My personal favorites are “Legend Has It” and “Oh Mama.” These two songs encapsulate that pure rawness I have come to love with the RTJ series. – Daniel (9/10).


Three is the universal magic number, and in the world of Run the Jewels, things seem to run by a similar set of rules. The third outing from Killer Mike and El-P serves as the most introspective in the RTJ series. The brash, rugged rigor that laces previous outings is still on sight, but a feeling of infiltrated awareness persists. Stylistically somewhat serious, the duo brings a sense of maturity to the table. The polished finish to the production solidifies its place as the 'best sounding' RTJ project with clean and crisp instrumentals throughout. Released on Christmas Eve in 2016, the RTJ catalogue was bolstered with a Christmas fucking miracle. – Peter (8.5/10)


Don’t get captured! Killer Mike and El-P reprise their roles as the cartoonishly anarchistic duo from two previous collaborations, burning wack MCs alive at the stakes, alongside punk police, in the process. Run the Jewels, as a united brand between two underground rap icons, elevated their craft for a third consecutive effort. Musically and lyrically, RTJ3 manages to maintain and amplify heralded elements from RTJ2, tightening their screws on the album listening experience. From standpoints of production, tracklist fluidity, and chemistry between the duo, RTJ3 blasted onto the scene as this series’ creative apex. Five years and another sequel later, it still feels to be the best in the series. Truly, fans are presented with a motion picture in the finale of this trilogy. – DeVán (8/10)


The third in the coveted Run the Jewels hip-hop series is one that shows a sense of playful energy between two friends, while also showing their brilliant chemistry. While probably my least favorite in the series yet, RTJ3 still proves as to why Killer Mike and El-P work so well together. El-P’s production crafts a sterile world where there’s nowhere safe, and it allows for himself and Mike to create some frenetic performances with intriguing lyrical tales. They’re still finding new ways to differentiate their sound from record to record and that’s a feat in and of itself. – Jared (8/10)


Hadley: 9.5/10 | Daniel: 9/10 | Dominick: 8.5/10 | Peter: 8.5/10 | Cam: 8.3/10

Pax: 8.3/10 | DeVán: 8/10 | Jared: 8/10 | Henny: 7/10 | Ben (Synth): 6/10

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