Run The Jewels have finally announced the official date for their third album RTJ3, along with the cover art, tracklist, a new single and more. Mercifully, we only have about six weeks to wait, with the album set to drop on January 13, 2017.
The news was revealed via social media:
Legend Has It is the third track we’ve heard from the record – we first heard Talk To Me via Adult Swim’s Singles series. Then, after the success of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the pair shared 2100 ft. Boots earlier than planned. The relevance and vivacity of the themes felt more necessary than ever, and their words felt more necessary than ever.
The track opens on an eerie instrumental, with jarring tones and a stark rhythmic sparsity that immediately puts you on edge Mike and El reintroduce themselves to their hungry audience: “We are the murderous pair that went to jail and we murdered the murderers there,” spits Mike. “I don’t play chicken, you prick, I’m a fox,” says El. It’s another indicator that this album is going to be abso-fucking-lutely great, and we’re counting down the days already.
RTJ3 is now available for pre-order. Like RTJ1 and RTJ2, it’ll be available for free download, although you can choose purchase t-shirt and vinyl packs, some of which include stickers, posters, CDs, etc.
The cover art continues the same theme of the previous two albums – severed hands making the RTJ gun-and-fist hand symbols. Unlike the illustrations on the first two however, the third album cover features the symbols crafted into a hand-made chromed, gold-plated sculpture (which weighed 15 pounds). According to a press release these were photographed by Tim Saccenti for the cover, who explained:“For us, the RTJ1 hands were about ‘taking what’s yours’ – your world, your life, your attitude. The RTJ2 hands were wrapped in bandages, signifying injury and healing, which for us represented the growth in ideas and tone of that album. For RTJ3 the bandages are off, the chain is gone and the hands have been transformed into gold. For us this represents the idea that there is nothing to take that exists outside of yourself. You are the jewel.”
The pair also shared a note about the album and pre-orders: Holy Shit. We can’t believe we get to finally write this to you… RTJ3 IS READY!!!! After a straight year of work the next chapter in this madness is done. We’ll spare you too much talk but we will say this: thank you so much for making RUN THE JEWELS the most amazing experience either of us have had in our careers. We hope you feel the love and time we put in to this record and can’t wait to share it with you and see you out on the road. Whether you buy it, download it for free, steal it from your annoying cousin or hear it at a show, just know that we are eternally grateful for the love you’ve shown us. Thank you thank you thank you.
Love, Jaime and Mike
The tracklist and featured guests have also been revealed – we’ve got guest spots to look forward to from Danny Brown, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and the amazing Kamasi Washington among others.
14. Report to the Shareholders/Kill Your Masters
Killer Mike and El-P have already announced a tour for the beginning of 2017, but we’re hoping that an Australian visit isn’t too far off. The last time Run The Jewels were down under was for Falls Festival across 2014-2015.
Image: Supplied